Due to the environmental awareness of the last decades, the concept of Green Port is introduced and used regularly. Nevertheless, an agreed-upon definition does not exist, leading to the rise of questions about what they are and how to develop them. For that reason, the aim of this research is to analyze and define what a Green Port is and to compare it with a traditional port, in order to develop a clearly-defined, specific complete and timeless methodology to facilitate port planners to get to a sustainable solution. The purpose is that the proposed methodology covers all phases of development, from planning to operation, not only to minimize but to avoid impacts and to maximize benefits. A case study is used to refine it, with the objective of making it applicable to other port projects around the world.
By analyzing the existing varied definitions for Green Ports and the current sustainable practices in ports around the world, a definition of a Green Port is proposed, through which a comparison between these ports and traditional ports can be made, optimized with the personal reflection after the elaboration of the proposed methodology. This methodology for developing a greenfield Green Port, covering the stages of planning, design, construction and operation (and management) is based on several top green philosophies in which all criteria that contribute to any green goal are based on. These criteria can be evaluated by means of a proposed evaluation framework, giving a final score to get an insight on how green the port is, which is tested and refined with a case study for the planning phase.
As a conclusion of the case study application, several implementation issues of Green Ports have been identified and some possible solutions for the success of the sustainable option are proposed, for which a general shift in mentality is required.