Survey of Environmental Noise in the Port of Barcelona

Abstract

Ports and harbours are logistic nodes characterized by noisy operations. Noise pollution analysis iscomplicated, because several types of noise usually can occur in the same area: ferries, cruises, fishingand trade ships coexist with industrial and auxiliary services. Noise pollution can have negativeeffects to the urban population inhabiting the port nearby but especially to the port workers and thepassengers. The Port of Barcelona is an infrastructure with a surface of 1,082.15 ha and a length ofdocks 22,216 km, and serves trade, passengers and fishing. The purpose of this work is to describethe acoustic events recorded in the maritime stations of the port of Barcelona dedicated exclusivelyto passenger and vehicle transport. The traffic of arrivals and departures of ships with passengers –mainly cruises – is high in these maritime stations; the characterization of the events caused by thistraffic, as well as the other events that may occur in the port, will draw the noise pollution perceived bythe port workers and the cruise passengers themselves. This paper describes the recording campaignin the Port of Barcelona and proposes a quantitative study over all the recorded acoustic events interms of typology, spectral characterization, duration and impact on the equivalent noise level.