Maritime traffic specialization and environmental health impacts in European port cities

César Ducruet, Mariantonia Lo Prete, Magali Dumontet, Barbara Polo Martin, Charbel Alkhoury, Ling Sun and Sheng Zhang

No 2026-5, EconomiX Working Papers from University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX

Abstract: This paper investigates the influence of multiple vessel traffics on air pollution and public health in European port cities. A sample of 120 Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) is analysed over the period 2000-2019, confronting container, cruise, liquid bulk, and solid bulk traffic with environmental (emissions of CO², PM2.5, NO²), public health (life expectancy, mortality rate), and socio-economic features like population density and GDP per inhabitant. Results from the fixed effects model show that population density is the major cause of all pollutions, followed by GDP and solid bulks, while life expectancy and mortality are mainly influenced by the nature of the local socio-economic environment (population density, age, GDP, bed rates, educational level). This is complemented by a factor analysis and a hierarchical clustering, which reveal the existence of three types of port cities: critical, tourism, and metropolitan. The typology of port cities is further discussed based on ground observation in particular sites.

Keywords: Europe; Functional Urban Area; hinterland; port city; sea transport; specialization; supply chains (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 Q53 Q56 R11 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2026
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-eur, nep-tre and nep-uep
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:drm:wpaper:2026-5

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