Dust is one of the biggest challenges that ports must face when they try to have a good environmental performance. The port activity which is the main source of dust emission is the manipulation and storage of solid bulks although dust can also be produced by industrial activities and by civil works within the port area. Impacts generated by these emissions are not the same for every port and can affect urban and natural areas around the port, other port users and some specially sensitive cargoes (e.g. cars)

In accordance with this situation, a legal framework has been established in the last years; the main legislative action taken at European level is the ‘Ambient Air Quality Directive 1999/EC/30’ which obliges ports not only to control air quality for suspended particles but also obliges them to act as environmental managers in the sense that they become responsible for reducing the amount of dust (and other air pollutants) generated by port activities.

The aim of thie Dust Working Group was to elaborate several useful guidelines and other tools (documents, catalogues, etc.) to help ports to manage problems related to dust emissions in port areas.
It needed to be a practical tool that wouldl allow port managers to set up, step by step, a plan to control, minimize and monitor dust emissions in port areas.
To do so it needed to include all the factors and decisions that should be considered in the moment that a dust problem is faced.

Scheme of different aspects that should be considered to face dust problems in port areas

The points that must be considered to manage dust generation and impact in a port area are:

1. Actions related to the emission of dust.

    a. Inventory and quantification of dust emission main sources in the port area. As dust emissions in a port may come from different port activities, the first action that ports must make is to register all their sources for this pollutant. Main sources that can be identified for a port area are:

• High diversity of industrial activities
• Traffic (land and ships)
• Manipulation of solid bulks in port terminals
• Civil works (land and maritime)

    b. Actions and strategies to reduce emissions for every identified source:

• Equipments to minimize dust generation for each generating activity
• Practices that help to reduce dust generation for each generating activity

2. Actions related to dust atmospheric concentrations

    a. Dust monitoring: network of sensors
    b. Modelling: use of air dispersion models that predict air pollution levels
    c. Surveillance of the impact on specially sensitive cargo (e.g. cars)

The questions that the working grouo sought to answer were the following:

1. Quick scan state-of-affairs: what is happening?, key elements of the issue?, who is who?, what is the technology available?,
2. Assessment of the bottle necks for ports and a possible role for ports
3. Collection of ‘best practices’, to assess the state-of-the-art in European ports
4. Assessment of the gaps in knowledge and know how, and determination of the best possible route for action
5. Development of a cooperative project / approach

If you have an example of a good practice solution in this area that you would like to share, please contact the EcoPorts Foundation Secretariat (foundation@ecoports.com).

> click here to learn more about Dust related solutions