RESEARCH ARTICLE Contribution of harbour activities and ship traffic to PM2.5, particle number concentrations and PAHs in a port city of the Mediterranean Sea (Italy) Antonio Donateo & Elena Gregoris & Andrea Gambaro & Eva Merico & Roberto Giua & Alessandra Nocioni & Daniele Contini Received: 16 January 2014 /Accepted: 28 March 2014 /Published online: 23 April 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract In this work, an assessment of the impact of ship traffic and related harbour activities (loading/unloading of ships and hotelling in harbour) on PM 2.5 and particle number concentrations (PNC) separating the contribution associated to ship traffic from that of harbour-related activities is report- ed. Further, an assessment of the impact and environmental risks associated to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations was performed. Results refer to the city of Brindisi (88,500 inhabitants) in the south-eastern part of Italy and its harbour (with yearly 9.5 Mt of goods, over 520,000 passengers and over 175,000 vehicles). PM2.5 and PNC concentrations show a clear daily pattern correlated with daily ship traffic pattern in the harbour. High temporal reso- lution measurements and correlations with wind direction were used to estimate the average direct contribution to mea- sured concentrations of this source. The average relative con- tribution of ship traffic was 7.4 % (±0.5 %) for PM2.5 and 26 % (±1 %) for PNC. When the contribution associated to harbour-related activities is added, the percentages become 9.3 % (±0.5 %) for PM2.5 and 39 % (±1 %) for PNC. In the site analysed, air coming from the harbour/industrial sector was richer in PAHs (5.34 ng/m 3 ) than air sampled from all directions (3.89 ng/m 3 ). The major compounds were phenan- threne, fluoranthene and pyrene, but the congener profiles were different in the two direction sectors: air from the harbour/ industrial sector was richer in phenanthrene and fluorene, which are the most abundant PAHs in ship emissions. Results showed that lighter PAHs are associated to the gas phase, while high molecular weight congeners are mostly present in the particulate phase. The impact on the site studied of the harbour/industrial source to PAHs was 56 % (range, 29–87 %). Keywords Ship traffic emissions . Harbour pollution . Particle number concentration . Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Introduction Global commerce is flourishing and the demand for harbour services has increased significantly in the last years (Zhao et al. 2013; UNCTAD 2013). The growing volume of passen- gers and freight is putting a great stress on harbours and on the inland supporting systems and infrastructure. These infra- structural facilities have a great impact on economic growth of coastal areas; however, their impact on the surrounding environment is growing more and more (Dalsøren et al. 2009). This is particularly true considering that, at global level, land- based emissions of airborne pollutants are decreasing, but ship emissions are increasing leading to potential negative effects on health and climate and social welfare (EEA 2013). The Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel A. Donateo (*) : E. Merico : D. Contini Istituto di Scienze dell’Atmosfera e del Clima, ISAC-CNR, 73100 Lecce, Italy e-mail: a.donateo@isac.cnr.it E. Gregoris : A. Gambaro Istituto per la Dinamica dei Processi Ambientali, IDPA-CNR, 30123 Venezia, Italy E. Gregoris : A. Gambaro : E. Merico Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica, Università Ca’ Foscari, 30123 Venezia, Italy R. Giua : A. Nocioni Agenzia Regionale per la Prevenzione e la Protezione dell’Ambiente, ARPA Puglia, 70126 Bari, Italy Environ Sci Pollut Res (2014) 21:9415–9429 DOI 10.1007/s11356-014-2849-0