Simulation of a New Port-ship Interface Concept for Inter Modal Transport

This study is part of the project Improved Port/Ship interface (IPSI) , supported by the EU Commission. The general objective of the project is to strengthen the economic position of waterborne transport, especially short sea shipping. In the IPSI-concept, the terminal is the central point of inter modal logistic chains. This paper concerns a simulation study, with the overall objective to prove that the IPSI-terminal concept can work under realistic conditions. The innovative terminal concept allows horizontal loading and unloading of seagoing ships by Automatic Guided Vehicles [AGVs] , and is designed for fast throughput and short in-port times. The simulation shows that maximum capacity of the IPSI-terminal is 1.75 million twenty feet container equivalents (TEU) per year. Guidelines are derived for terminal design taking into consideration the terminal dimensions, cargo flow characteristics, equipment characteristics and desired service levels for all modes of transport