APB projects to improve the air in ports chosen as European success stories

The air quality monitoring and improvement projects of the ports of the Balearic Islands Port Authority (APB) are presented as success stories at the thirteenth edition of the international congress Med Days of the PIANC.

The monitoring of air quality, the electrical connection of ships and the satellite detection of pollution episodes are shown as examples of the digital transition of the ports at European level.

The World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC) organized this congress in the French town of Sète under the theme "Port of the Future". The technical committee of the conference chose three papers from the APB to present to the professionals working in the most technologically advanced ports of Europe and North Africa.

The first of the APB's three innovative projects aimed at improving air quality in the ports is the air quality monitoring system and the smart environmental platform for real-time information on air pollution in the ports of Palma, Alcúdia, Maó, Eivissa and La Savina. This project, recently awarded the international prize for the best air quality monitoring network at the 2022 edition of the Air Quality & Emission (AQE) fair, contemplates the deployment of 25 measuring stations in the port facilities.

Under the principle that what cannot be measured cannot be managed, since 2016 the APB has been improving a digital platform that today provides air quality data in real time, alerts that make it possible to identify the sources of pollution in the five ports of general interest that it manages and to calculate the back trajectories of any pollutant that is identified by the sensors.

Another of the projects that is already a reality in the port of Palma is the shore connection of ships, known as Cold Ironing. This installation enables low and medium voltage electrical connection for ships docking at the quay closest to the city of Palma, reducing the emission of gasses and noise while the ship is docked. It is the first installation of its kind in Spain that allows medium-voltage connection. Thanks to this first project, European funds have been obtained to electrify five more docks, two in the port of Eivissa, one more in the port of Palma, one in Alcúdia and another in Maó. These works are valued at around 12 million euros, 40% of which will be subsidized by European funds.

Finally, the EIFFEL project is an innovative project 100% subsidized by the EU, based on the use of satellite images to proactively detect pollution episodes, cross-referencing them with information obtained in situ from port activity. The measurements obtained through the APB's sensor network are used to calibrate these images and provide air quality data not only for the port of Palma but for the whole island of Mallorca.