Estimation of atmospheric emissions from maritime activity in the Veracruz port, Mexico

The port of Veracruz is one of the most important ports in Mexico and is currently in the process of a major expansion. The new port area, "Bahía Norte", will be three times larger than the current port, "Bahía Sur". Atmospheric emissions from the Veracruz port system, specifically from the engines of ships undergoing maneuvering and hotelling operations, were determined on a daily basis from 2018 to 2019 for sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), carbon monoxide (CO), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), particles (PM), particles smaller than 10 micrometers (PM₁₀), particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM_2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). A bottom-up method was used to estimate the atmospheric emissions, based on official data from the European Environment Agency. The method utilizes on technical information on the type of ship, the power of the main engine (ME) and auxiliary engine (AE), load factor, specific fuel consumption, and spent time in the maneuvering and hotelling phases. The highest atmospheric emissions occurred in the hotelling phase. For the "Bahía Sur" emissions (Mg/year) were 328.6, 993.3, 122.3, 30.6, 22.9, 19.1, 18.5 and 52,723.4 for SO₂, NO_x, CO, NMVOC, PM, PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and CO₂, respectively. For "Bahía Norte" the corresponding emissions were 43.9, 132.7, 16.3, 4.1, 3.1, 2.5, 2.3 and 7,040.9, also in the hotelling phase. The average combined of the atmospheric emissions from maneuvering and hotelling phases (Mg/year) were 1.18, 3.49, 0.44, 0.13, 0.09, 0.08, 0.07, and 189.23 for SO₂, NO_x, CO, NMVOC, PM, PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and CO₂, respectively. During the 2018-2019 period of the study the "Bahía Sur" contributed ~87% and the "Bahía Norte" ~13% of the atmospheric emissions.Implications: The atmospheric emissions reported in this study can be used for the simulation of air quality considering environmental or photochemical pollution models, since atmospheric emissions are reported on a daily basis and compliance with air quality can be monitored considering the reference-concentration established by the Official Mexican Standards in order to propose prevention, minimization and control measures. In addition, the analysis of the information that was carried out in this study may be applied to other port systems in Mexico that are located on the Pacific coast and the Gulf-Caribbean.