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Port Otago will start to measure air quality at its Port Chalmers base this year, chief executive Kevin Winders says.
Otago Regional Council chairwoman Marian Hobbs wrote, in her governance report tabled at the end of January, that despite significant improvements in noise pollution levels "there are still significant issues about air quality" in the seaside village because of port operations.
And in an interview following Ms Hobbs’ statement, Mr Winders said new regulations that came into force this year were expected to have a positive effect on air quality in the area, but the planned on-site monitoring, still in the early stages, could serve to allay the concerns of some in the community.
"We’ve kicked off that project ourselves," he said.
"Once we understand the particulates and the levels, that will give us a pretty good idea of the impact on the community — and it could be very minor."
Ms Hobbs said while the report was tabled at the council meeting last month it expressed her personal views "as a human being".
The former minister for the environment and current Careys Bay resident said she had not realised ports were exempted from air quality until just two months ago and it was a source of embarrassment for her.
Council air quality scientist Sarah Harrison said some temporary measuring of smaller particulates, known as PM2.5, had been completed at the port in 2013 and the council was looking into the possibility of further work there in the future.
But the nearest air quality monitoring station was in Albany St, in Dunedin.
A Cruise Lines International Association spokesman said there was an "enormous amount happening" regarding air quality in the industry.
On January 1, new sulphur emissions standards were introduced worldwide.
In 2018, the association announced a global cruise industry pledge to reduce the rate of carbon emissions across the industry fleet by 40% by 2030.
In total, association cruise lines worldwide had invested more than $US22billion ($NZ34billion) in ships with new, energy-efficient technologies and cleaner fuels.
Worldwide, 68% of association cruise line ships used exhaust gas cleaning systems to meet or exceed air emission requirements.
A Ministry for the Environment spokeswoman said the Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Regulations 1998 treated the discharge of contaminants in the coastal marine area derived from exhaust as permitted.
Although New Zealand was only in the process of signing up to a new shipping pollution convention, which sets air emissions limits to reduce marine pollution from shipping, any international ships in New Zealand waters flagged to states that were already party to the agreement must comply with the limits it set.