Port environmental health Risks: Insights from the Tarragona Port-Industrial complex and planning implications

Ports handle approximately 80% of world trade and concentrate vessels, cargo operations, and logistics that generate substantial pollution affecting nearby populations. Following a structured literature search and a narrative synthesis organized around a source-to-exposure-to-impact conceptual framework, this review evaluates the health risks associated with residential proximity to ports. Evidence consistently links port-related emissions to cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, asthma, lung cancer, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and neurodevelopmental effects. The Tarragona Port is used as an illustrative example of a complex port-industrial setting in which port and co-located petrochemical emissions jointly contribute to a quantified local burden of preventable deaths and disability-adjusted life years, although the fraction attributable to port activities alone cannot be readily isolated from that of the adjacent petrochemical complex and other urban sources. These findings support targeted interventions, including mandatory Health Impact Assessments, health-based buffer zones, optimized freight routing, and real-time air quality monitoring integrated into port operations.