A comprehensive analysis of strategies for reducing GHG emissions in maritime ports

IMO green initiatives emphasize the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in shipping, extending beyond open sea operations to include emissions from ships in ports. This study systematically reviews 139 studies to identify trends in estimating GHG emissions from ships in ports, presenting a comprehensive analysis of twelve indicators across four aspects of the GHG emission estimation process: data quality, metrics, models and simulations. The findings emphasize the need for high-resolution databases with consistent standards to improve data quality. Additionally, the study advocates for the adoption of diversified and standardized emission intensity metrics to provide more comprehensive insights. Revising emission parameters, such as shipping emissions at berths and in ports, using updated data is crucial. A balanced approach between interpretability, data requirements, and model accuracy is essential to enhance emission estimates. Moreover, it is vital to account for interactions between strategies when simulating decarbonization scenarios. A significant research gap is identified in the performance of multi-port strategies based on unified databases.