Model of calculating a composite environmental index for assessing the impact of port processes on environment: a case study of container terminal

Environmental standards are not harmonized in ports and neither are the instruments used for the assessing the condition of environmental efficiency of a port system. The purpose of the research conducted in the framework of this paper is to propose the methodology for calculating the Port Environmental Index (PEI) which synthetizes all environmental aspects of port operations into a single value. The goals of the paper were the following: (1) to integrate the relevant environmental aspects of port activities and evaluate the influence of port terminal processes on the environment by calculating the PEI (2) to validate the index by applying to a container terminal in the north-western part of Croatia. PEI was constructed using the compound index method where compilation and aggregation of individual indicators were used to form a compound index of the overall effect of port processes on the environment. The validation of PEI by applying it to a container terminal (Port of Rijeka, northwestern part of Croatia) showed that the PEI can be easily applied and its application allows monitoring the overall changes in environmental performance of port areas. In addition, PEI can be used to test different pollution abatement strategies including testing interventions in the port processes and determining their share in the overall influence on the environment. In addition, the potential constraints to using such an approach are discussed in the paper