F. Quaranta

Assessment of ambient air quality in the port of Naples

Two experimental monitoring campaigns were carried out in 2012 to investigate the air quality in the port of Naples, the most important in southern Italy for traffic of passengers and one of the most important for goods. Therefore, it represents an important air pollution source located close to the city of Naples. The concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) in the air were measured at 15 points inside the Naples port area through the use of passive samplers. In addition, a mobile laboratory was positioned in a fixed point inside the port area to measure continuous concentration of pollutants together with particulate matter, ambient parameters, and wind direction and intensity. The pollution levels monitored were compared with those observed in the urban area of Naples and in other Mediterranean ports. Even though the observation time was limited, measured concentrations were also compared with limit values established by European legislation. All the measured pollutants were below the limits with the exception of nitrogen dioxide: its average concentration during the exposition time exceeded the yearly limit value. A spatial analysis of data, according to the measured wind direction and intensity, provided information about the effects that ship emissions have on ambient air quality in the port area. The main evidence indicates that ship emissions influence sulfur dioxide concentration more than any other pollutants analyzed. Implications: Two monitoring campaigns were carried out to measure BTEX, SO2, NO2, and PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <10 μm) air concentrations in the port of Naples. NO2 hourly average and PM10 daily average comply with European legislative standards. Spatial variation of pollutants long the axis corresponding to the prevailing wind direction seems to indicate a certain influence of ship emissions for SO2. For NO2 and PM10, a correlation between concentrations in the harbor and those measured by the air quality monitoring stations sited in the urban area of Naples was observed, indicating a possible contribution of the near road traffic to the air pollution in the port of Naples.

Cost/benefit analysis of alternative systems for feeding electric energy to ships in port from ashore

The development of maritime transportation has increased the territorial role and the socio-economic relevance of harbors. But, at the same time, it has worsened the environmental impact of the maritime operations on ports and surrounding - often highly inhabited - areas, particularly in the Mediterranean. Since ships at berth need a certain amount of electric energy for hull and hotel services, they must keep their auxiliary engines switched on, inevitably generating exhaust emissions and noise. As a consequence, ports become an important and growing source of pollution and can create relevant risks for the health of the communities living nearby. From the economic point of view, it has been assessed that the costs involved in the shore-side power program can vary widely among ports. In this paper a complete cost benefit analysis will be carried out by keeping into account all costs related to the systems capable of supplying electric energy to ships using systems external to it. In particular, cold ironing, LNG power packs and fuel cells will be evaluated; LNG and fuel cells will be considered both as a fixed source of energy, and as a movable one, when fitted in a barge in order to reach the ship to be powered. Additionally, the results obtained in term of the cost of energy from ashore will be compared with the cost of the energy produced onboard, by keeping into account all charges that compose the real price of the electric energy when using the auxiliary engines onboard ships.