THE PORT’S IMPACT ON ITS SURROUNDINGS AND ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The Port of Barcelona's desire to take care of the environment has led it to monitor the impact of port activities and to develop tools for waste, air, water and soil management. It also coordinates and facilitates the organisation's own actions and the initiatives generated by port terminals.

One of the main management tools for monitoring environmental incidents involves activating specific procedures from the Port Police Control Centre when an incident is detected or notified. 150 were registered this year.

ENVIRONMENTAL INCIDENTS IN 2016

MANAGING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Contamination by oil spills

The Port applies an active policy for preventing incidents and accidents involving oil spills in port waters; however, if these do occur, then the instrument used to respond is the P.I.M. (Internal Marine Plan), which includes instructions for responding to the incident and the resources to be used. The scope of the current P.I.M. has been extended to include spills of any chemicals at sea, not only hydrocarbons.

In 2016 there were 48 alerts concerning pollution of port waters, but only six cases required specific response action and collection of the product. Most alerts concerned the Port Vell area.

Port water cleaning

The Port has a water surface cleaning service that works 24/7 using specialised vessels and staff. This year a total of 74.5 tonnes of waste were collected with a total volume of 427 m³.

The type of floating waste varies during the year depending upon factors like the number of people at the Port, the holding of one-off events or specific meteorological and oceanographic conditions.

TYPES OF FLOATING WASTE COLLECTED IN 2016

Monitoring water quality

Under the plan for monitoring bodies of coastal water, agreed with the Catalan Water Agency, the Port of Barcelona monitors port water quality with bimonthly controls on physical-chemical parameters and nutrients in the water column, and two complete campaigns to analyse for metals and organic pollutants in water and sediments.

Receiving ships’ waste

According to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (the MARPOL 73/78 Convention), all ports must have appropriate facilities and specific services for the effective receipt of ships’ waste. The following table indicates and compares the amounts collected in the last five years.

MARPOL WASTE COLLECTED 2012 - 2016 (m³)

The Port of Barcelona coordinates and facilitates the organisation's own actions and the initiatives generated by the terminals

MANAGEMENT ON LAND

Street cleaning

The cleaning service responded to a total of 196 incidents outside the planned service: 71 were covered by the ordinary service, 63 correspond to back-up actions over the weekend and holidays to service ferry and cruise traffic, 25 for cleaning the Energy Wharf pit, and the rest (37) were extraordinary actions requiring the intervention of personnel and/or equipment outside of the ordinary service.

Waste from land-based activity

In total, the Port handled more than 800 tonnes of waste from activities such as street cleaning, water cleaning, gardening and managing the waste generated by its own activity, from incidents or abandoned cargoes. There was an increase of waste classified as ordinary (LER 200301); an amount similar to 2015 in terms of waste collected and managed selectively; a decrease in hazardous types (batteries, toners tyres...) and a certain increase in non-hazardous types (paper/ cardboard, lightweight packaging, glass, garden waste, rubble...).

WASTE COLLECTION 2012 - 2016 (tonnes)

MANAGING THE ATMOSPHERIC AREA

Air quality

The Port has its own network of equipment for measuring air pollution and meteorological variables. The APB's Weather and Air Quality Surveillance Network (XMVQA in its Catalan initials) includes stations with various kinds of equipment, ranging from high-volume samplers of particulate matter to analysers for measuring the main types of air pollution. The network provides information on the quality of the air in the Port and weather information to support the various activities undertaken there, such as ship navigation or handling of goods in the terminals.

The pollutants measured by the XMVQA are:

• dust, determined as particulate matter less than 10μm in diameter (PM10) and 2.5 µm (PM2.5);

• combustion gases such as sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂);

• the secondary pollutant ozone gas (O₃);

• and evaporative fuel gases, such as benzene (C₆H₆).

The graphs show the average annual concentrations (in µg/m3) obtained of the main pollutants in the last ten years (from 2007-2016):

PARTICULATE MATTER (PM10)

NITROGEN DIOXIDE (NO₂)

SULPHUR DIOXIDE (SO₂)

The Port Vell station on the Fishermen's wharf has a high-volume PM10 particle sensor, which is also part of the XMVQA, since the data it provides are considered as representative of air quality in urban areas close to the Barceloneta and Ciutat Vella districts.

As far as meteorological variables are concerned, data are obtained on wind speed and direction, which is the phenomenon that most affects port operations. However, the Port's interest also focuses on rainfall, temperature and relative humidity of the air, atmospheric pressure and solar radiation.

Participation in improving air quality in the metropolitan area and the city

The Port of Barcelona has developed and approved the Air Quality Improvement Plan, which involves 53 actions to reduce emissions, grouped into the following nine areas: ships, trucks, terminal machinery, handling dusty bulks, port works, promoting the transfer of goods from road to rail and Short Sea Shipping (SSS), completion of the new rail access and the road accesses to the south. In essence, the actions aim to:

• Provide infrastructures for supplying and developing pilot projects to promote rapid implementation of alternative fuels - particularly natural gas - to transport goods via ship and heavy vehicles.

• Study the feasibility of providing a wharfside electrical connection for vessels moored at certain wharves.

• Implement a new system of discounts for vessels to promote improved environmental performance and attract "cleaner” ships.

• Progressively electrify the Port's fleet of vehicles and promote the electrification of private fleets and vehicles within the Port Community.

• Promote the electrification or gasification, as appropriate, of port terminal machinery (remove vehicles from the road).

• Continue to promote the transfer of freight from trucks to rail and short sea shipping (SSS) by building and improving infrastructure, attracting new operators, consolidating and constantly improving services.

• Promote the adoption of sustainable mobility criteria in the port area and among the companies located in the Port.

• In the event of an environmental episode being declared by the Catalan Government, enable the agreed actions to reduce emissions from port activities.

The Port of Barcelona considers the implementation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a competitive and sustainable alternative to hydrocarbon fuels used until now in freight transport by sea and land as a strategic move. It is sustainable because it eliminates emissions of sulphur dioxide and particulate matter; furthermore its emissions of NOx (nitrogen oxides) are 85% lower than those of diesel and fuel oil; it is competitive because it is the cheapest energy source with the most stable prices.

In 2016 the Port of Barcelona, along with other partners, continued to participate in two projects financed using European funds from the CEF programme:

Cleanport involves incorporating a natural gas-fuelled auxiliary engine to a ferry plying the Barcelona-Palma route each day. During its stay at the port, the ferry can start up the auxiliary gas engine instead of the diesel engine used to date.

The CORE LNGas hive project is very broad in scope (led by Enagás and Puertos del Estado) and is being rolled out in various Iberian Peninsula ports, with several actions under way in each one. In Barcelona it involves: adapting a bunkering barge to supply LNG apart from other conventional fuels; modifying a loading arm on the ENAGAS LNG terminal to supply LNG to the barge; converting two handling machines to natural gas in two port container terminals; designing a natural gas-powered tug and building a portable natural gas-powered generator to supply electricity from the dock to a ro-ro vessel.

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

Electricity consumption at the organisation's facilities decreased by 6.4%, explained mainly by the work to improve lighting systems on Adossat Wharf, transferring lighting facilities from Citizens' Port to Port 2000, and reduced supplies in areas such as the Portal de la Pau building or the Punta Mayor Salvage ship. Actual total electricity consumption was 7.07 GWh.

To this we must add the consumption of thermal energy corresponding to the air conditioning of Port offices in the World Trade Center Barcelona building, which, at 727,570 kWh, remained virtually unchanged year on year.

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION 2012-2016 (in kWh)

Grouped by type, the highest consumption relates to administrative activity (lighting and air conditioning of buildings).

TYPES OF CONSUMPTION

FUEL CONSUMPTION

Consumption of natural gas for heating and hot water for the ASTA building decreased by approximately 30% year on year to stand at 680,683 kWh.

The overall consumption of petrol and diesel fuels was generally very similar to the previous year, since there were no significant changes in the number of existing vehicles. However, there were differences in the share of consumption: petrol consumption was reduced by replacing vehicles with diesel-powered ones, while it also rose due to the increase in kilometres travelled.

Furthermore, diesel consumption for generators corresponds essentially and supply at the Guardia Civil del Mar berth on Adossat wharf.

FUEL CONSUMPTION 2012-2016 (I)

CONSUMPTION OF RESOURCES

Some of the 89 fire hydrants owned by Port of Barcelona are used for supplying water to vessels, irrigation facilities, buildings, pumping stations, and toilet facilities in guardhouses and port premises. The Port's internal water distribution network can also supply temporary works projects and others requesting the service. Total water consumption of the network in 2016 was 234,460 tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 7%.

PORT WATER CONSUMPTION 2012-2016 (m³)

Paper consumption increased year on year.

PAPER CONSUMPTION (kg)

MATERIAL USED IN BUILDING WORKS

In general, fewer materials were used in building works during 2016, except in the case of recycled ballast and riprap.

MOBILITY

The Port promotes public transport by funding bus line 88, which connects the Avenida Parallel in Barcelona to the Zal Prat with 30 stops. Much of the route is inside the port area in order to serve users throughout the Port Community. This bus service is attached to the metropolitan public transport system's integrated fare scheme.

USE OF BUS LINE 88

In addition, the Port Authority provides a free travel card for the whole integrated public transport network to all its employees who wish to sign up to use the public transport option.

INTEGRATED PUBLIC TRANSPORT TRAVEL CARDS FOR EMPLOYEES

The Port of Barcelona' monitors its environmental impact and develops tools for waste, air, water and soil management