Assessing the eco-efficiency benefits of empty container repositioning strategies via dry ports

Trade imbalances and global disturbances generate mismatches in the supply and demand of empty containers (ECs) that elevate the need for empty container repositioning (ECR). This research investigated dry ports as a potential means to minimize EC movements, and thus reduce costs and emissions. We assessed the environmental and economic effects of two ECR strategies via dry ports—street turns and extended free temporary storage—considering different scenarios of collaboration between shipping lines with different levels of container substitution. A multiparadigm simulation combined agent-based and discrete-event modelling to represent flows and estimate kilometers travelled, CO2 emissions, and costs resulting from combinations of ECR strategies and scenarios. Full ownership container substitution combined with extended free temporary storage at the dry port (FTDP) most improved ECR metrics, despite implementation challenges. Our results may be instrumental in increasing shipping lines’ collaboration while reducing environmental impacts in up to 32 % of the inland ECR emissions

Application of Mixed Simulation Method to Modelling Port Traffic

Marine ports are the largest single business complex in the maritime sector impacting the coastal, marine, and atmospheric environment. The environmental effects of port operations mostly originate from the vessel and cargo handling operations, and maintenance. Port operations generate marine pollution in many forms (chemical, biological, solid waste, and sedimentation) and present a challenge to all port operators. Because ports are often located near urban areas, the wider impact of port operations on the environment cannot be ignored as it can potentially affect the economy of these areas as a whole. Air pollution is a significant externality for ports located close to urban areas. Around 4.5% and 6.2% of the total SO2 and NOX respectively, emitted by ships are due to in-port activities such as manoeuvring (approaching harbours) and hoteling (at the dock in port). A vessel consumes around 10% of fuel during slow manoeuvring. Assuming around 4.5% and 6.2% of the total SO2 and NOx emitted by ships are due to in-port activities such as manoeuvring (approaching harbours) and hoteling (at the dock in port), simplifying the traffic model hinders the ability to conduct accurate emission assessment and limits the ability to conduct an environmental assessment as a result of increased port capacity. The research aim is to develop a multi-method simulation model of port systems to simulate port traffic for assessing various port challenges like emission, throughputs, etc. The study will develop a mixed simulation model of port systems comprising of marine traffic and associated processes using the port of Liverpool as a case study. The developed simulation model will be used to estimate emission within the case study port. The study developed a multi-method simulation model representing individual actors and specific processes of the entire port system. The developed simulation method integrates two major modelling approaches: discrete-event simulation and agent-based simulation. Due to the complexity within the port, the study focused on the vessel and cargo handling sector of the port because manoeuvring (approaching harbours) is a significant source of pollution. The developed method adopts an object-oriented approach. Object-oriented modelling is an important aspect of the modelling methodology because it supports the reusability and scalability of the developed model as entities are represented as objects with specific characteristics based on their types. This is significant in representing vessel and cargo terminal types. Each vessel type was encapsulated with internal characteristics e.g. passage plan, speed, etc. A terminal developed to handle bulk cargoes is different from a terminal that handles container cargoes. Therefore, agents were developed to represent various cargo terminal types (such as container terminal, bulk terminal, passenger terminal, etc.), with each terminal type possessing its characteristics specific to itself. The method was applied in the study area. AIS data was collected for the Port of Liverpool over the 12 months of 2016. The data provides information on all marine traffic (fitted with AIS) for the Port of Liverpool outer channel (Liverpool Bay) and the port inbound and outbound lanes along the River Mersey. This data set was used to design and validated the simulation model. A maximum of seven vessels was observed to be transiting through the outer waterway, four at the inner and two in the manoeuvring waterway. Vessel transit times and speed variation are observed to be influenced by the vessel traffic density within each waterway. Vessel waiting and dwell time are seen to be influenced by lock availability and the tidal condition of the port. An increase in tidal duration results in an increase in both waiting and dwell time and vice versa. The validation outcome reveals that the developed model also possesses a relative realistic speed changing behaviour when compared to real-world data. The simulation result also shows a realistic relationship with the travel time distribution from the historical data set. The developed model represents the port as an entire system, however, the study only focussed on the vessel handling process. Previous port modelling has witnessed lots of simplification in vessel traffic models, port process models, and exclusions of external condition models over the years, but the object-oriented programme implemented in this study can help solve these issues. Therefore, the developed methodology would enable better models to be integrated

An Investigation to Evaluate the Feasibility of an Intermodal Freight Transport System.

The threat of greenhouse gases and the resulting climate change have been causing concern at international levels. This has led towards new sustainable policies towards reducing the anthropogenic effects on the environment and the population through promoting sustainable solutions for the freight industry. The research was prompted by the growing concerns that were no mode-choice tool to select as an alternative to road freight transport. There were growing concerns that a large percentage of transport related negativities, related various costs and pollution costs, losses arising from traffic accidents, delay costs from congestion and abatement costs due to climate impacts of transport, etc., were not being borne by the user. Economists have defined them as external costs. Internalising these external costs has been regarded as an efficient way to share the transport related costs. The aim of this research was to construct a freight mode choice model, based on total transport costs, as a mode choice substitution tool. This model would allow the feasibility of choosing alternative intermodal system to a primarily ‘road system’. The thesis postulates a novel model in computing total freight transport costs incurred during the total transit of goods along three North European transport corridors. The model evaluated the total costs summing the internal, external and time costs for varied mode choices from unimodal and the second level of intermodal transport systems. The research outcomes have shown the influences of total costs on the shipper and the preferred mode choices from the available mode/route options with sustainable transport solutions. The impacts of such alternatives were evaluated in this research. This will allow the embedding of intermodal infrastructures as sustainable and alternative mode choices for the freight industry

SMALL AND MEDIUM PORTS' ACTIVITIES MODELLING: INTRODUCTION TO THE PIXEL APPROACH

[EN] Port activities undeniably have an impact on their environment, the city and citizens living nearby. To have a better understanding of these impacts, the ports of the future will require tools allowing suitable modelling, simulation and data analysis. This challenge is also tied to another current reality: the heterogeneous data coming from different stakeholders converging into ports are not optimally exploited due to lack of interoperability. Thus, the forthcoming research and development initiatives must address these demands from a holistic point of view. PIXEL (H2020-funded project) aims at creating the first smart, flexible and scalable solution reducing the environmental impact while enabling optimization of operations in port ecosystems. PIXEL brings the most innovative IoT and ICT technology to ports and demonstrate their capacity to take advantage of modern approaches. Using an interoperable open IoT platform, data is acquired and integrated into an information hub comprised of small, low-level sensors up to virtual sensors able to extract relevant data from high level services. Finally, this hub integrates smart models to analyse port processes for prediction and optimization purposes: (i) a model of consumption and energy production of the port with the aim of moving towards green energy production; (ii) a model of congestion of multi-modal transport networks to reduce the impact of port traffic on the network; and (iii) models of environmental pollution of the port to reduce the environmental impacts of the port on the city and its citizens. The main issue tackled by PIXEL is to provide interoperability between these models and allow real integration and communication in the context of an environmental management model. Besides that, PIXEL devotes to decouple port¿s size and its ability to deploy environmental impact mitigation specifying an innovative methodology and an integrated metric for the assessment of the overall environmental impact of ports.The PIXEL project, the results of which are presented in this paper, is being funded from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 769355 Port IoT for Environmental Leverage (PIXEL)Simon, E.; Garnier, C.; Lacalle, I.; Costa, JP.; Palau Salvador, CE. (2019). SMALL AND MEDIUM PORTS' ACTIVITIES MODELLING: INTRODUCTION TO THE PIXEL APPROACH. WIT Transactions on the Built Environment (Online). 187:149-163. https://doi.org/10.2495/MT190141S14916318

A top-down methodology to calculate the CO2-footprint for terminal operations; the 6-step approach

There is an increasing need for green and effective operations at terminals and in port due to existing and upcoming stricter air quality standards and regulations. At the same time there is an increasing awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption of ports and terminals and to focus on the carbon footprint which is dependent not only on equipment and operations, but also the energy mix and the management of energy consumption. This is an important objective for the terminals but also for a wide variety of stakeholders, such as port authorities and transport service clients. Sustainable terminal operations require a good insight in terminal configurations, the use of equipment and the availability of reliable data about the energy consumption on the terminal. This information is in many cases not available for a variety of reasons, such as the very competitive environment and the competition between terminals, sometimes simply because the information is not known. In this deliverable an innovative top-down approach is presented to calculate the CO2-emissions of terminals. This methodology is named ‘the 6-step-approach’. This approach can be considered as an easy applicable tool to get a brief and coherent overview of the total energy consumption of a terminal. The 6-step approach is a standardised methodology which is coherent with CEN standard CEN 16258 “Methodology for calculation and declaration of energy consumption and GHG emissions of transport services (freight and passengers)”. The CEN standard contributes to the standardisation, comprehensiveness, transparency, consistency, generalization and predetermination. __The methodology consists of 6 steps:__ 1- the operations on the terminal (what is actually happening?) 2- the construction of an analytical model of activities 3- the development of an algorithm based on the analytical model 4- application of the model (preferably with real data, presently mostly based on estimations) 5- valorisation of the outcomes of the model 6- policy recommendations In coherence with the consumption scheme based on the GHG Protocol or to ISO 14064 standard and the CEN EN 16258 standard, the methodology concentrates on three domains of energy consumption: the terminal operations and related equipment, the consumption of reefers and the lighting of the yard. These three elements cover more than 95% of all energy consumption at a terminal. An important contribution of the 6-step approach to the port community is the fact that the model delivers outcomes that can function as the basis for tailor made recommendations that cover almost all activities. Therefore the main objective of the tool is that it can function as a benchmark tool for companies, port authorities, E.U., WorldBank/IMF/OECD, etc. (policy investment). Furthermore the application of tool can be considered as a basis for evaluation (rising awareness and motivation to use energy competently and thoughtfully), organizational investments (modifying operations to increase productivity versus energy consumption), technical modification investments (modifying equipment and systems to reduce consumption/increase productivity), technical purchase investments (put new equipment/systems into operation). But overall, the 6-step approach is a source for inspiration, it gives structure to process and the methodology recognizes the new challenges: to apply the model as a a pro-active methodology that addresses the economic (profit), environmental (planet), and social objectives (people) in one coherent strategy. By doing this, the 6-step approach offers an opportunity for cooperation and interaction between the private firms su

Simulation and optimization of a multi-agent system on physical internet enabled interconnected urban logistics.

An urban logistics system is composed of multiple agents, e.g., shippers, carriers, and distribution centers, etc., and multi-modal networks. The structure of Physical Internet (PI) transportation network is different from current logistics practices, and simulation can effectively model a series of PI-approach scenarios. In addition to the baseline model, three more scenarios are enacted based on different characteristics: shared trucks, shared hubs, and shared flows with other less-than-truckload shipments passing through the urban area. Five performance measures, i.e., truck distance per container, mean truck time per container, lead time, CO2 emissions, and transport mean fill rate, are included in the proposed procedures using real data in an urban logistics case. The results show that PI enables a significant improvement of urban transportation efficiency and sustainability. Specifically, truck time per container reduces 26 percent from that of the Private Direct scenario. A 42 percent reduction of CO2 emissions is made from the current logistics practice. The fill rate of truckload is increased by almost 33 percent, whereas the relevant longer distance per container and the lead time has been increased by an acceptable range. Next, the dissertation applies an auction mechanism in the PI network. Within the auction-based transportation planning approach, a model is developed to match the requests and the transport services in transport marketplaces and maximize the carriers’ revenue. In such transportation planning under the protocol of PI, it is a critical system design problem for decision makers to understand how various parameters through interactions affect this multi-agent system. This study provides a comprehensive three-layer structure model, i.e. agent-based simulation, auction mechanism, and optimization via simulation. In term of simulation, a multi-agent model simulates a complex PI transportation network in the context of sharing economy. Then, an auction mechanism structure is developed to demonstrate a transport selection scheme. With regard of an optimization via simulation approach and sensitivity analysis, it has been provided with insights on effects of combination of decision variables (i.e. truck number and truck capacity) and parameters settings, where results can be drawn by using a case study in an urban freight transportation network. In the end, conclusions and discussions of the studies have been summarized. Additionally, some relevant areas are required for further elaborate research, e.g., operational research on airport gate assignment problems and the simulation modelling of air cargo transportation networks. Due to the complexity of integration with models, I relegate those for future independent research

The Implications and trade-offs of near-port ship emissions reduction policies

Maritime shipping is considered the most efficient mode of transport in economic and environmental terms. However, its impacts on climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and on human health from air pollutants released near residential centres cannot be ignored. Over the last decades, regulatory bodies have been developing policies that seek to further improve the sector’s environmental performance and at the same time new technologies improve the efficiency of vessels. Operational practices of shipliners and port authority initiatives are also relieving the sector’s impacts. While there has been significant research on the environmental impacts of maritime transport, there has been relatively little work focusing on the effects of maritime activity in the proximity and at ports. This thesis presents a transferable framework that allows the estimation of emissions pollutant generation near the port focusing on CO2, SO2, NOx and BC emissions. The most relevant emissions reduction actions are considered and their effects on the environmental footprint of the port are modelled. The thesis emphasizes on the implementation of speed reduction programmes near the port, use of cold ironing at berth, and the effects of fuel quality regulation, considering the perspectives of the port authority, and the ship operator. The thesis considers the emerging environmental and economic trade-offs due to the different emissions reduction actions. A non-linear convex optimization model is formulated that minimizes fuel consumption in a sequence of port calls where in some areas speed limits or fuel regulations are in place. The results show that there is no universal port policy that can simultaneously minimize the environmental impact of all ships without economic or environmental penalties. This indicates that there is great scope of improvement in existing policies, and that regulators will need to decide what their priorities should be in improving the system. The achievements of this thesis can be beneficial to policy makers, port authorities, and shipping companies that wish to improve their environmental performance without sustaining environmental and economic penalties to do so.Open Acces