Modeling a Plan for Seaport Investments through a System Dynamics Approach

The smashing growth of the containers’ traffic within the Mediterranean seaports has forced most of the local governments to rethink the development policies of infrastructures, so to better match the new market requests. The idea that the efficiency of seaports may also lead to an economical development of the involved area, with beneficial social effects, like a growing number of employment opportunities, as both a direct and a side effect, is amongst the main reasons. Nevertheless, the economical impact, in terms of cost, for such developments, can’t be easily estimated, because it involves a huge number of different subjects and economical effects spread amongst the system. This paper is focusing on a dynamical approach for analyzing a small sized seaport. Its main advantage is the ability to linearly depict the several relationships occurring amongst the different subjects involved, with increased advantages as opposite to more traditional approaches, like the “Costs-Benefits” model, or the “Multi-criteria” techniques. Herein, we don’t limit our approach to simply show how to apply the “System Dynamics” to a seaport, but we also show its application for the analysis which can be conducted to policy the supporting activities of maritime transportation.