Green port governance is an emerging and recent port restructuring process influencing port authorities regarding adopting recurring sustainable governance practices within their business models. However, contemporary academic bias towards a particular aspect of port sustainable governance practice leads to publication results fragmentation and difficulty in a collective assessment of the conclusions. The lack of holistic research endeavors to port sustainable governance practices hinders the identification of organized, specific, and goal-oriented factors indispensable for coherently directing ports to sustainable and green transitions. In order to bridge the identified gap, this paper conducts a bibliometric analysis of 278 scientific articles on the emerging green port governance concept in the maritime industry, published in 113 academic outlets, authored by 695 scholars, and obtained from the world’s most reputable scientific database—ISI Web of Science. The conducted meta-analysis via HistCite software revealed the most prestigious academic institutions, the most prominent scientific journals, the most impactful scientific articles, and the most influential scholars. The bibliographic coupling methodology via Bibliometrix tool in R software indicated five concurrent research streams on the basis of the top 10% of the scientific articles: (1) Adoption of contextualized models of port governance reform as a consequence of port multi-scalar embeddedness forces and institutional stretching; (2) Fostering port sustainability competitiveness via extended resource pools in terms of dry ports coupling; (3) The digitalization role of information systems regarding the interaction between transport, infrastructure, and institutional management in ports; (4) Assessment and innovation in seaport competition policies for the integration of green and sustainable operations; and (5) Conceptual development and awareness raising of port management practices on account of CO₂ evidence-based policies regarding port terminals. The application of co-citation analysis methodology revealed future research directions within the five concurrent research streams on the basis of the top 5% trending scientific articles. The detailed content analysis assesses the scientific mapping of future research directions via the structural associations of the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework. The cause-and-effect relationships of the structural associations of the DPSIR framework possess the possibility of providing substantial insights into the most influential factor identification regarding the development of green port governance models and self-assessment toolkits.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a useful method for determining relative efficiency in many types of businesses, including the transport sector. In line with the European Union’s (EU) policy of sustainable development of transport, external costs become the competitiveness factor of the transport route valorization. Presenting specific DEA settings, the paper aims to show and test a developed model for determining the optimal transport route among alternatives towards the same destination where external cost as a socio-ecological factor is included in DEA, along with transport cost (quantitative factor) and transport time (qualitative factor). In order to adhere to the principles of the least possible energy consumption, the given distance that also included in DEA settings represents the shortest route between the starting point and destination, as a unique and constant output variable. Therefore, the optimal direction selected by the DEA stands for the green route. The capabilities of the DEA, set up in this way within the broader model, are demonstrated in the practical case.

This study provides a bibliometric review of 238 studies on the concept of green shipping corridors in the maritime industry, published in 93 academic outlets and authored by 654 scholars. Bibliographical data were extracted from the Web of Science database and analyzed using the bibliometrix package in R software (version 4.3.3) alongside VOSviewer (version 1.6.20). Based on citation analysis metrics, the most influential articles, journals, authors, institutions, and countries within the field were identified. Utilizing the bibliographic coupling methodology in VOSviewer, the following four underlying research clusters were distinguished: (1) Sustainable Green Shipping Practices and Research, (2) Alternative Fuels and Low-Carbon Strategies for Maritime Transport, (3) Green and Low-Carbon Maritime Development, and (4) Environmental Sustainability in Maritime Shipping. Content analysis results highlighted crucial policy recommendations, technological adaptation strategies, and collaborative stakeholder practices, providing robust insights for academia and industry practitioners seeking strategic guidance for effective maritime decarbonization via integrated green shipping corridor initiatives.

Due to the intensity of marina activities and global climate change, marinas are facing the challenge of sustainability. Therefore, the concept of “green port” has now become a requirement. In practice, the term “green port” describes the activities of all stakeholders involved in the port business towards a sustainable development of the port. This paper aims to provide an insight into the current application of sustainability principles and the concept of “green port” in Croatian marinas. Therefore, the concept of “green port” is described. Furthermore, the framework (regulations, policies, international and national certificates and programs) for sustainable activities in Croatian marinas are analyzed. The main part of the paper is the analysis of sustainable activities, i.e. practices in Croatian marinas related to eco-spatial design, standardization and awarding system, energy transition, sustainable waste, water and air systems. Therefore, positive sustainable practices in selected Croatian marinas and aspects that need improvement are identified.

Motorways of the Sea present a practical example of combined and sustainable transport. With respect to the present model of functionality of the transport system in the Republic of Croatia, where the development of the port and of the gravitational transport system is left to each individual port (six independent ports), and where there is no systematic approach to specialization of each port or route, the results of the analysis are not promising. The goal of this research is to explain why the current Motorways of the Sea implementation model is inefficient and unsustainable. The analysis shows that a scientific approach to multicriteria analysis, which includes the identification of all relevant factors, the analysis of the transport infrastructure, as well as the identification of criteria which could potentially affect the Motorways of the Sea system, can correctly define the optimal model for the implementation of a sustainable Motorways of the Sea system.

Cruise tourism as a propulsive branch of tourism is being increasingly affirmed in the field of river transport. Accordingly, the main research problem in this paper is the analysis of the possibility of further affirmation and growth of passenger flows on river cruises on the Danube as the backbone of river traffic in the European Union. In the context of the defined research problem, the paper analyzes: relevant geo–traffic and socio–economic characteristics of the Danube, relevant indicators of passenger flows on cruises on the Danube – intensity, structure, dynamics and distribution of passenger traffic flows. Based on the aforementioned content, the further dynamics of passenger flows on cruises is concluded and forecasted, and the guidelines and factors of valorization of cruise tourism along the Danube Corridor are highlighted.