Sustainable port operations and environmental initiatives in Malaysia : a focus on environmental sustainability

Sustainable port growth remains a major concern in Asia and the Pacific, where more than half of the busiest ports are located and where two-thirds of the world's maritime trade is now concentrated. Most ports continue to strive to improve their performance and productivity to compete with the growing volume of sea trade, as well as the quality of their inland connections. At the same time, various air and water pollutants, as well as other harmful environmental externalities caused by port activities, the Port also needs to address urgent environmental issues to ensure the sustainability of this sea trade. In this study, the essential elements of sustainable port operations are explored through a comprehensive systematic literature review, which is not just a collection of existing studies, but it also analyzes and synthesizes various approaches to evaluate port performance from an environmental sustainability perspective. The transition from theory to practice, in the second part through the focus group discussion of this study, has analyzed the views of the management of some leading Ports in Malaysia to understand how the concept of sustainability theory is implemented in practical situations. The results of this study provide a detailed view of the environmental initiatives and strategies implemented by interacting with those directly involved in the operation and management of Malaysian ports. It records the challenges, successes and ambitions of Malaysian ports in their efforts towards sustainability.