Edinburgh Napier University

  Transport sector activities are the major sources of pollutants to the atmosphere and natural environment. Seaports contribute significantly to the cause of pollution in the water and water front areas they are located. Like other industrial nations and regions, maritime sector in Malaysia continues to grow and expand to facilitate global and regional trade and as a maritime-related activities result have proliferated in sea and shore. This has exposed seaports to a growing pressure and posed challenges to operate in an environmentally friendly manner. This paper aims to classify environmental issues caused by shipping and seaport activities and propose strategies to reduce environmental issues in seaports at east coast of peninsular Malaysia. Using quantitative research design, data was collected through a survey questionnaire from personnel at east coast Malaysian seaports. The result of this paper indicates that garbage dumping, air pollution, maintenance waste, dust, noise pollution, bilge water, dredging operations and oil spill are the most important issues contributed by seaports activities. This paper suggested several strategies that can be implemented to mitigate environmental issues at east coast of Malaysia including Kuantan, Kemaman and Kerteh seaports.