The global increase in shipping activity has contributed to the degradation of air quality, which particularly affects traffic-dense port areas. Due to the environmental and public health impacts of air quality in port cities, a number of inventories using varying methodologies have been conducted over the past two decades to manage gas emissions in specific areas. The objective of this work is to determine one relevant methodology for estimating ship emissions in ports through a systematic review of the relevant literature. In this research, PRISMA guidelines were followed through a multi-layer bottom-up analysis approach to ensure the validity of the proposed methodology. The aforementioned methodology, as the end result of this research, is intended to provide an empirically structured basis for further development of a novel indexing model of ship gas emissions in port areas.

Human error caused by the interaction and effect of fatigue, stress and anxiety in seafarers is the subject of this research. The human element is a major part of the maritime system. We used Bayesian networks to predict human error in maritime affairs by analysing interactions between people, technology, organisational and environmental factors which make up the specificity of the maritime system. Bayesian networks are graphical structures developed to represent the conditional dependencies among a number of variables and to make conditional conclusions related to the selected variables. Through the analysis of psychic causes such as stress, fatigue, anxiety and so on, the model can produce graphic diagrams indicating which rank on which type of vessel at which seafarers age contributes to an increase in conditional probability of human error. The contribution of the paper is to find the worst combinations of influencing variables that can lead to an increase in the risk of human error. The results show a significant level of fatigue and stress in all officers (engine and nautical), regardless of the type of vessel they serve. A strong presence of anxiety is also reported in all surveyed officers, with a higher degree between engine officers.

Intensive shipping activity in port areas is considered one of the leading problems in the maritime sector, which has a negative effect on climate change and local air quality. The compilation of detailed inventories of combustion gases released by ships should therefore provide a more accurate overview of emission levels, which can serve as a basis for analysing impacts on the port community and lead to the establishment of better environmental measures. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an adaptable and relevant analytical model capable of integrating a comprehensive methodology with large databases of ship movements and technical details to provide clear ship-related emission estimates in large port areas. Considering the lack of research in Croatia that includes the mentioned approach and the insufficient monitoring of air pollutants in ports, the model was used to produce an initial overall emissions inventory for the Port of Split, the busiest passenger port in Croatia. In the model, bottom-up logic with an energy-based method was applied to detailed technical and near-real-time shipping data from AIS, creating the first high-density spatial and temporal overview of shipping emissions in the City port basin. The results showed strong seasonal fluctuations and large discrepancies in the quantities emitted between different ship types and operating modes. The analysis therefore raised the question of the need for the future development and implementation of a scalable system that would provide a more transparent and efficient overview of the important characteristics of air pollution from ships and port areas.

Seaports, as major transportation hubs, generate significant air pollution due to intensive ship traffic, directly affecting local air quality. While emission inventories are commonly used to manage ship-based air pollution, they reflect only the emission-related aspect of a specified period and area, limiting the broader interpretability and comparability of the results. To overcome the mentioned challenges, this research presents the PrE-PARE model, which enables the prediction, analysis, and risk evaluation of ship-sourced air pollution in port areas. The model comprises three interconnected modules. The first is applied for quantifying emissions using detailed technical and movement datasets, which are combined into individual voyage trajectories to enable a high-resolution analysis of ship-based air pollutants. In the second module, the Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) machine learning method is adapted to predict emissions in varying operational scenarios. In the third module, novel metric methods are introduced, enabling a standardised efficiency comparison between ships. These methods are supported by a unique classification system to determine the emission risk in different periods, evaluate the intensity of various ship types, and rank individual ships based on their operational efficiency and emission optimisation potential. By combining new methods with technical and operational shipping data, the model provides a transparent, comparable, and adaptable system for emissions monitoring. The results demonstrate that the PrE-PARE model has the potential to improve strategic planning and air quality management in ports while remaining flexible enough to be applied in different contexts and future scenarios.

The maritime domain is the common domain of special interest, so it has special protection of the state and certain rules of use. One of the models of the maritime domains management in the territory of the Republic of Croatia is the concessioning system, and it is based on various legislation and by-laws that determine the type of concessions, the method of determining the concession fee and the methods and criteria for awarding the concession. The concessions’ management is primarily related to the economic use of maritime domains. The aim of this article is to carry out a comparative analysis of the concessioning model of maritime domains in the territory of the Republic of Croatia and the European Union with a focus on the seaports. For the purpose of economic use, today’s models of the maritime domains’ concessioning in the territory of the European Union are not unambiguous, as they depend on the tradition and historical development of the system even though they are subject to constant changes. The carried out research points to the need of developing the system in the Republic of Croatia with the obligation to harmonising legislation, strengthening criteria within the system and increasing the degree of openness of the market in accordance with the European acquis.