Ports and negative externalities: Institutional strategies to monitor and mitigate them in Spain

A unique, reciprocal relationship exists between seaports and the urban areas and cities they are located in. The former provide the latter with economic activity and progress; however, this dynamic entails certain conflicts of interests: port activities generate negative externalities, primarily in environmental aspects. This study has extracted information from the ports’ annual Sustainability Reports as an original source to identify these externalities and analyse the actions taken by the Spanish port authorities (PAs) to monitor and reduce these external factors. The analysis is extended to include some unique aspects, such as the specific typology of the externalities, the nature of the measures taken and even the impact the size of the ports has on the actions carried out.