Strategic and environmental impact assessment of the New Port Master Plan of Trieste (Italy)

General objectives of the Port Master Plan are the expansion of port areas, the development of container traffic, the enhancement of reclaimed areas (past industrial activities) and the development of cruise industry.

Works construction is divided into two scenarios: short and long term. Short term scenario supplies to immediate needs and priorities and identifies high productivity interventions that allow reaching high functionality with low economic and execution efforts. The long-term scenario represents the final port configuration to be achieved, through various temporal steps on the basis of several factors. Factors include trade evolution, economic dynamic of the country and of the trading partners and actual implementation of national and international infrastructure projects.

Plan actions will lead to a general improvement of the quality of the seabed, due to the planned dredging activities and the preliminary remediation activities necessary where the piers will be built or expanded.

Environmental Impact Study (EIA) identifies, analyzes and quantifies all possible interactions of the anticipated works with the environment and the surrounding territory. 

In particular, on the basis of the characterization and analysis of individual environmental components, the EIA Report describes the environmental system of reference and any interference with the work under the new plan.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) also verifies if objectives and actions of the Plan are consistent with each other. Furthermore, it shall point out if these objectives are in conflict with local planning and policy instruments and with objectives and sustainability strategies developed at international and national level.

With regards to strategic analysis, the objectives of the Master Plan resulted consistent with each other and/or independent from each other, as the purposes of the Plan is not in conflict with its objectives and the port land uses. With regards to environmental aspects, main issues in the present condition are: sediment and soil contamination of port area, anthropization of the coastline that affects vegetation and wildlife habitats of environmental interest, noise levels in urban areas mainly caused by urban traffic and concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM10) over legal limits in port and industrial area. 

Moreover, contamination of marine coastal waters of the bay harbor is supposed, due to potential release of hazardous substances from the sediments. Model analysis have shown low hydrodynamic activity considering both the residence time and the distribution of flow velocity, thus making the bay harbor a sort of large sedimentary basin.