Sustainability issues in ports: content analysis and review of the literature (1987- 2017)

Sustainability, which has environmental, social and economic dimensions, is a phenomenon that has been used extensively in recent times. As decided in Brundtland Conference in 1987, it basically aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. When it is taken into consideration in terms of sustainability, it is known that ports are one of the most polluting sectors due to their nature. However, in recent years many ports have started to different sustainability programs and invested in large amounts over the years to reduce emissions and to gain a competitive advantage. When examined the past studies, it is determined that the sustainability concept is a relatively recent approach in the maritime literature and still a gap exist in this field. It is thought that the analysis of these studies in a systematic way will contribute to the port sustainability literature. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to review port sustainability concept with the help of existing literature. For the methodology, studies obtained from different databases were evaluated systematically by using content analysis. The study has been concluded with the findings for the related literature, recommendations for the sector and guidelines for future researches.