Can Air Quality be Influenced in Coastal Areas by Shipping?

Article history Received: 8 October 2019 Accepted: 23 October 2019 Published Online: 29 December 2019 The problem of pollution is a topical issue at global, regional but also at the local level. Starting from this idea, the question arises whether the coastal region in the North-East of the Black Sea is affected by the emissions resulting from the combustion of marine fuels in large ship engines, which manage to set in motion floating buildings intended for the transport of goods and passengers. This paper wants to evaluate the variation of the air quality indicators in the coastal area of Romania, taking into account the contribution that the ships by their number, size and destination can have on these qualitative factors. Such an approach is needed from the perspective of the more than 500,000 inhabitants possibly affected by the effects with which this industry is accompanied. As the Black Sea active fleet is already old, as its ages year by year, the premises for the need for this study can be set up. As in other regions, drastic measures are taken in order to reduce the effects of pollution due to such economic activity, the assessment of the effects that this industry produces in inhabited areas becomes necessary. In order to carry out this study, air quality data from the database provided by the National Air Quality Monitoring Network of the Workshop on the calitateaer.ro site were evaluated.