Noise has long been neglected as an environmental pollutant and impairment health factor in maritime transport. Recently, acoustic pollution indicates the highest growth in transport external cost unit values. In 2020, questionnaires were submitted to seafarers to examine their noise exposure and perception on board and attitudes towards noise abatement measures. Responses of 189 participants were processed using descriptive statistics and Likert scale valuation, while their consistency was tested with indirect indicators using linear regression and correlation test. Results show that more than 40% of respondents do not consider noise as a significant environmental problem. The negative perception among respondents with ≥10 years of work experience was much lower (23.53%). Most are aware of the onboard noise harmful effects that can influence their health. Despite that, they use personal protection equipment only sometimes. A higher positive perception was recorded in groups of respondents with a university degree (90%), work experience longer than ten years (82.35%), and monthly income higher than 4000 € (70%). Respondents are not strongly motivated to participate in funding noise mitigation measures, and such a viewpoint is not related to their monthly incomes. The low awareness and motivation regarding acoustic pollution generally shown by the surveyed seafarers should be watched as a threat by the company managers. Better education and awareness are likely to be crucial to change the current state of affairs.

ABSTRACT

An oil spill is the accidental or intentional discharge of petroleum products into the environment due to human activities. Although oil spills are actually just a little percent of the total world oil pollution problem, they represent the most visible form of it. The impact on the ecosystems can be severe as well as the impact on economic activities. Oil spill cleanup is a very difficult and expensive activity, and many techniques are available for it. In previous works, a methodology based on different kinds of criteria in order to come to the most satisfactory technique was proposed and the relative importance of each impact criterion on the basis of the Saaty's Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was also evaluated. After a review of the best available techniques (BATs) available for oil spill response, this work suggests criteria for BATs' selection when oil spills occur in the Mediterranean Sea under well-defined circumstances: calm sea and presence of economic activities in the affected area. A group of experts with different specializations evaluated the alternative BATs by means of AHP method taking into account their respective advantages and disadvantages.

The aim of this paper was to determine the economic impact of the transportation sector on the Croatian economy by using input–output analysis. According to the input–output tables for the Croatian economy for 2004, 2010, 2013, and 2015, output and gross value-added multipliers were calculated. The results of the conducted analysis indicated that the multiplicative effects of the transportation sector in Croatia were significant in the observed period, especially for the air transport sector. Furthermore, comparative multiplier analysis with selected European Union countries was performed to assess the Croatian transportation industry position from an international perspective. Lower output and gross value-added multipliers for the Croatian transportation sector imply that old European Union member states capitalized the transportation sector more for growth and development. The Croatian transportation sector recorded lower imported intermediate inputs, average domestic inputs, and higher value-added multipliers similar to new European Union members. Simulations based on multiplicative effects show that restrictions on movements and human contacts, imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could induce a strong reduction in the economic activity of transport and other sectors that are included in the value-added chain of the transport industry.

A B S T R A C TBranch Xa of Pan-European Transport Corridor X has a strategic importance for Croatia since this corridor (Corridor branch) enables linking of Croatia with Slovenia and Austria, which, according to the current data on the structure of trade in goods from countries, is counted among five most important Croatian trading partners. Therefore, the valorization of the branch of Corridor X has unquestionable importance for the Croatian economy and the associated surroundings that gravitate in the transport route. Conditional on the numerous geo-transport and socioeconomic factors, the valorization of transport corridor on the transport market is determined also by the value of transport (traffic) services that are determined by the costs incurred in its production. Accordingly, the underlying problem of the present study is to analyze the external costs of the branch of Corridor X which, although, belong to the category of social costs borne by society, have the intention to become, over various regulatory measures (excise), an integral part of the costs of the conveyor. With the aim of the research in this study, which, generally, supports the need for internalization of the external costs, as the essential factors of valorization of the transport corridors, a comparative analysis of external costs of the branch of Corridor X between the road and rail transport was performed. As input data, the results of in-depth analysis were used, resulting from the studies of the European Commission for the European Union, specifically Studies for Corridor X and Studies on East-Mediterranean transport routes. The research results show that the mean values of external costs of freight rail transport on the branch Xa are almost five times fewer than the average value of external costs of road transport ( 1 / 2 EC EC = 4.88) and that, in accordance with the purpose of these investigations, the internalization of external costs is unquestionably required for planning the traffic flows and valorization of the route.