Despite the skyrocketing growth in recent decades of environmental studies on ports and shipping, their local health impacts remain largely under-researched.
PortEconomics member César Ducruet, co-authors with Bárbara Polo Martin, Mame Astou Sene (University of Paris-Nanterre, France), Mariantonia Lo Prete (Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (ULCO), France), Ling Sun (Fudan University & Shanghai Maritime University, China), Hidekazu Itoh (Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan), Yoann Pigné (LITIS, University of Le Havre Normandie, France), a portstudy that tackles this gap in research by statistically analyzing data on global shipping flows across nearly 5,000 ports in 35 OECD countries between 2001 and 2018.
The different traffic types, from containers to bulk and passengers, are analyzed jointly with data on natural conditions, air pollution, socio-economic indicators, and public health. The principal results show that port regions pollute more than non-port regions on average, while health impacts vary according to the size and specialization of the port region. Three types of port regions are clearly differentiated: industrial, intermediate, and metropolitan port regions.
The interesting portstudy has been published in the Science of The Total Environment Journal and can be downloaded here.
Cite: Ducruet, C., Martin, B. P., Séné, M. A., Prete, M. L., Sun, L., Itoh, H., & Pigné, Y. (2024). Ports and their influence on local air pollution and public health: a global analysis. Science of The Total Environment, 170099.
