Noise pollution of container handling: External and abatement costs and environmental efficiency

Abstract

While previous studies have pointed to their economic significance, terminal operations are frequently ignored in transport appraisal and policy analysis. This paper develops a generic model framework for estimating noise emissions from container terminal operations to derive key metrics for port policy analysis. A novel microeconomic production model that accommodates basic acoustics is proposed. Based thereon, abatement costs are derived using optimization and marginal external costs and efficiency scores are estimated using panel data frontier estimation. The virtues of the modeling approach are illustrated using noise meter readouts combined with port activity and meteorological data from the port of Oslo, Norway.