Hydrogen is expected to be a significant force in this transition. Hydrogen can be produced using technologies that do not emit CO2 or other greenhouse gasses (“green H2”). Hydrogen can be transported in big quantities and long distances unlike electricity and can play the role of a clean fuel. The emerging hydrogen economy, which will be accompanied by the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels, will significantly impact ports around the world. Ports can and should play a pivotal role in this “energy revolution”. Apart from import and export services, ports often include industrial clusters, they provide servicing and refuelling to visiting vessels and connect major trade routes. This study aims at understanding and providing insights on challenges that the above-explained transition will create in a port environment focusing on hydrogen. Firstly, a favourable policy environment for hydrogen projects in the ports and maritime sector is a key topic that this study will address. This is included as a conclusion in many reports and port conferences. Secondly, the questions related to terminal planning and area requirements of hydrogen terminals remain unanswered as large scale hydrogen projects do not exist yet -with many being under development-, and thus this research will try to shed light on area calculations of hydrogen terminals. Thirdly, and lastly, terminals operators, investors and policy makers will need to make decisions on the preferred hydrogen carrier and location for various hydrogen projects that will be developed in the near future. Therefore, a method of comparison of different alternatives is required, especially when terminals are planned next to existing liquid bulk terminals.

The main objective and secondary objective, which corresponds to the in-depth research are as follows: (1) To develop guidelines for engineers to include salt marshes in hydraulic infrastructure projects, subject to the Building with Nature philosophy. (2) To investigate the effect of grazing at salt marshes on the coastal protection property. This research concerns the development of guidelines for engineers to include salt marshes in coastal protection projects, subject to the Building with Nature philosophy. The results include important design aspects for engineers and an analysis of trade-offs between biodiversity and the coastal protection property of salt marshes. This research is based on a literature study about the natural and artificial development of salt marsh. Thereafter, the effect of grazing on wave attenuation is modelled by the numerical model SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore). The effect of vegetation and the bathymetry is analysed. The vegetation data results from a grazing experiment at the salt marsh at Noord Friesland Buitendijks, in the north of the Netherlands. The results from the literature study and the in-depth research are translated to important design aspects within the engineering design guidelines for salt marsh development. The main conclusion of the in-depth research is that the effect of vegetation on wave attenuation is small compared to the effect of wave breaking and bottom friction. Moreover, the variations in wave attenuation between the different grazing strategies is also small. However, grazing could be used as an ecosystem management strategy, as from literature it follows that grazing positively affects biodiversity. Although the effect of biotic factors on wave energy dissipation is small, the presence of a salt marsh indirectly affects wave attenuation. The salt marsh vegetation enhances sediment accumulation, which leads to a higher bottom profile elevation compared to the bare foreshore. This should be substantiated by future research.

The world population is growing and therewith facing a lot of problems, such as a growing energy demand and climate change. These problems force society to make a transition, from a system driven by fossil raw materials to a sustainability-based system. Hydrogen can play a part in shifting from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy flows, as a renewable energy carrier, to decrease the CO2 emissions. However, the major obstacle of hydrogen use is the low volumetric energy density at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, hydrogen must be compressed, liquefied or attached to a carrier to use it for storage or transportation purposes. The most cost-effective method to import hydrogen is yet unknown, and therefore a better understanding of the costs of the hydrogen supply chains are essential. The objective of this research is to: (1) understand the different costs for each individual element of the supply chain, (2) design a hydrogen supply chain that integrates the individual elements into a single framework to be able to compare the different carriers to each other and (3) create a more profound perspective on the investment decisions for a hydrogen import terminal. A case study for the port of Rotterdam is performed to validate the operation of the general supply chain for a specific case, resulting in a more in-depth understanding of the import terminal. This research covers four hydrogen carriers: ammonia, MCH, liquid- and gaseous hydrogen. The answer for objective one, is that for ammonia and MCH the import terminal costs are the highest, for liquid hydrogen the conversion plant costs and for gaseous hydrogen the transport costs. The hydrogen costs for ammonia, MCH and liquid hydrogen decreases as long as the demand increases, up until an amount of 500,000 t/y, whereby for gaseous hydrogen this decline holds for values beyond this amount as well. In general, for distances up to 3,500 nm gaseous hydrogen is preferred and for intermediate to long distance ammonia. The discrepancy in costs between ammonia, MCH and liquid hydrogen is almost negligible. Regarding the second objective, it can be stated that it makes no difference when choosing one carrier, or the other at ammonia, MCH and liquid hydrogen for intermediate to long distances. To conclude, the optimal hydrogen import supply chain for the estimated demand of Rotterdam is obtained from gaseous hydrogen exported from Tunisia with a cost price of 2.3 €/kg.

The river Waal is part of an economic important transport-corridor that connects the ports of Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam to Germany. Ongoing processes such as (1) climate change, (2) large scale river bed erosion and (3) up-scaling of vessels threaten the future navigability of the river. This will lead to massive economic damages as taken in 2018 (Strengs et al., 2020). Canalisation of the river by means of weir-lock complexes is a considered by Rijkswaterstaat to improve inland navigation during periods of low discharge and prevent economic damages. This leads to the primary goal of this study; investigate the required lock capacity to provide smooth and reliable passage of the river Waal now and in the future. A literature review was conducted to assess the future development of the drivers of the worsening navigation conditions and to gain insight in market- and fleet developments. The developments in the drivers underline the urgency for measures. The development of the fleet navigating on the river Waal is characterised by up-scaling for the past 20 year. This trend is expected to continue the coming years. Future market developments are very uncertain due to the energy transition and the nitrogen crisis, making it very difficult to make accurate projections on future fleet intensities and compositions. Therefore a range of traffic intensities is used to characterise future fleets that encounter the lock complexes. The number and locations of the lock complexes is investigated by analysing available nautical depths and water levels along the river Waal for several stationary discharges at Lobith. Water levels are set up to a level such that navigation for all vessels (fully loaded) is possible. From a financial perspective it is most attractive to minimise the number of weir-lock complexes, however this is contrary to flood safety aspects on the river Waal. Installation of two weir lock complexes is considered plausible taking into account minimising the number of weir-lock complexes and flood safety. Vessel traffic simulations are conducted in SIVAK III to investigate the performance of multiple lock configurations in terms of average waiting time and service level. SIVAK III is able to simulate the passage of vessels at an individual level in a network of waterways and locks. A fleet analysis on a representative IVS data set is conducted to provide SIVAK III with fleet intensities, fleet mixes and arrival patterns. For the upstream (rkm 905) lock complex is recommended to use a lock complex with 4 chambers with dimensions 28.4x305m, but with in mind the option for a 5th chamber in the future. This lock complex is able to handle the current fleet +10% intensity within the considered requirements. A 5th lock chamber of the same size can handle an increased intensity of +30% including strong up-scaling effects. For the downstream lock complex (rkm 941) it is recommended to use a lock complex with 4 chambers and dimensions 25x330m. The lock complex is able to handle the current intensity +30%.

The main objective of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the effect of shellfish presence on the stability of loose rock revetments and to investigate the possibilities in the design. Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) presence on loose rock revetments was quantified. C. gigas and M. edulis are common shellfish species in the port area and act as ecosystem engineers. They require a certain salinity level, water temperature, phytoplankton ratio, and sufficient submersion time for daily feeding and respiration. The current presence of shellfish in the port area was predicted based on salinity levels generated by an OSR model. Outcomes were compared to qualitative measurements of C. gigas and M. edulis presence performed in the port area. C. gigas is present on revetments where salinity levels exceed 16‰, which is the case at Maasvlakte 2, Beerkanaal, and Calandkanaal. M. edulis were hardly observed in the port area on revetments. M. edulis can move relatively easily and detach from the surface after mortality occurs in contrast to C. gigas. They are, therefore, not considered a reliable structural addition, so only the effect from C. gigas was studied. C. gigas presence leads to binding of stones in revetments. This binding of stones will increase the stability of stones in the revetment. The relationship between the presence of oysters and stability upgrading is described using a connectivity model. The relationship between the presence of oysters and binding of stones is measured in the port area, these measurements are used to validate the model. Measurements showed that the cumulative coverage ratio of dead and living C. gigas decreases as one moves up to the intertidal zone from the mean low water level (MLW). The binding of stones increases when the coverage ratio of C. gigas is larger. This shows that there is a relationship between the coverage ratio of oysters and the binding of stones, and this assumes that there is a relationship between the coverage ratio of oysters and stability upgrading. The presence of oysters comes with structural, environmental, and ecological impacts. The conditions in the Port of Rotterdam as a system itself can pose various opportunities and threats for oyster coverage, such as global warming, pollution, and future port plans. Complementary measures can be implemented to mitigate the limitations and threats. The maintenance demand, and associated costs, decreases when oysters are present. Oysters are usually present naturally; their presence can be stimulated by enhancing C. gigas populations at locations with conditions that would allow potential oyster growth. Enhancement strategies depend on local conditions. Application is most promising when bow thruster or ship wave impact is normative because oysters are mainly found up to NAP +0.5 m. Additional enhancement costs are approximately equal to the expected reduction in maintenance costs. Possible ways of application in the Port of Rotterdam are summarized in a flowchart.

The design of a container terminal is a process that goes through a number of phases. One of the first is the concept design phase, which is needed to make a first assessment of the project's technical and financial feasibility. This phase is exploratory of nature, because of the early stage in the design cycle and consists of several tasks that often dependent on certain design choices. One of the most influential choices in the early stages of the design cycle is the stack equipment choice. It has a significant influence on the two primary deliverables of a concept design: the land use and the cost estimate. The problem definition holds that in practice, there is often only limited time available for the concept design phase. The short duration of the process affects the design effort by engineers in two ways. First, not all possible stack equipment options can be considered in detail, which generally is solved by an expert judgement based design freeze early in the process. And secondly, not all designs that are considered are visualised, as often only the preferred design option is visualised at the end of the process. A quick visualisation would help to better understand the design itself, and the interaction with its environment. An important consequence of the above work method is that not all potential solutions are being assessed throughout the design process. This limits the adaptability of the design process and can potentially lead to suitable solutions being overlooked. To improve the design process, more stack equipment types should be considered and evaluated throughout the process, and all considered design options should be visualised. This is as yet not possible in the limited time available time in the concept phase with the currently available tools. This problem leads to the following research question: What are the consequences of accelerating the generation and visualisation of concept level terminal designs, by modelling the automatable tasks, on the concept design phase? A typical concept design process, as defined in this report, consists of six stages and has an indicative duration of four to eight weeks, depending on the exact outline of the project and the local conditions. The tasks that correspond to the generation of the various terminal concept design options (i.e., concept level calculations, layout generation, cost estimation and visualisation) are considered to be automatable. An examination of currently existing design tools demonstrated that there is currently no available tool that meets the requirements and therefore, a specific design tool must be developed. Parametric engineering is the chosen method for automating the concept level design process as it allows for different solutions to be explored and provides for flexibility during the process. Based on both expert interviews and studied literature, it has been decided to build the design tool using a combination of two packages in which Python is used for concept level terminal calculations and Grasshopper is used for layout generation. The developed tool can calculate the required terminal elements (e.g., storage capacity, quay length, equipment numbers), arrange these elements into a layout, make a cost estimate and instantly produce a 3D visualisation of the corresponding terminal concept design. A case study is used to validate the output of the tool and to demonstrate the tool's ability to evaluate all types of stack equipment in parallel throughout the process. During this research, the design tool was used exhaustively for a wide range of terminal designs, of which the required durations were logged. In the end, this averaged to an estimated reduction in the required time for the concept phase of around half of the original four to eight weeks. It should be noted that this number is indicative and that many factors influence this number, such as the complexity of the project, the amount of 'tailoring' required and the experience the terminal planner has with using the tool. Nonetheless, based on these findings, it can be concluded that the tool allows for evaluating more options in less time. To further explore the tool's capabilities, the design tool is used to investigate the effect of four prominent local cost parameters (i.e., cost of land, labour, fuel and electrical power) on each of the considered stack equipment options. The results show that the cost of labour has the most significant influence on the terminal's cost estimate, but that the most significant discrepancies between the stack equipment options are observed when increasing the cost of land. Although the cost of labour and land are considered to have a significant influence on the concept phase, the results demonstrate that for a medium-sized container terminal located in Western Europe, the most economical stack equipment option is the RTG, regardless of the influence of the examined local cost parameters. Based on the results from the case study and the exploratory research, the tool's impact on the concept design can be described as follows: firstly, the tool is able to consider all potential stack equipment types in parallel throughout the process. This new working method, therefore, enables a design freeze much later in the process than before, providing improved flexibility as changes can be anticipated throughout the concept phase. Furthermore, the time saved as a result of the design tool can now be used for more extensive expert judgement throughout the concept phase. The more time available for expert judgement, the better the terminal planner can assess the solution space of suitable design options and improve the 'fit' with local conditions. Finally, instant visualisation of the considered design options creates the ability to obtain a better understanding of the design itself and the interaction with its environment. To conclude: the developed automated design tool is able to accelerate the generation and visualisation of concept level container terminal designs and thereby evaluate more design options in less time. This newly established working method is able to improve the concept design phase in three ways: i) the design process is a lot more flexible and allows for all stack equipment options to be considered during the process, ii) the time-savings enable more time for extensive expert judgement throughout the concept phase, and iii) the instant visualisation of all potential options provides the terminal planner with the ability to better assess the terminal design itself and the relation to its surroundings.

Due to the increase of global containerized trade and container vessel sizes, the necessity of container terminal development is unavoidable. On the other hand, designing a container terminal is a very complex process, and on a concept design phase, a quick assessment for the design alternatives should be done in a limited time, cost, and effort. Therefore, an automated tool is developed by (Koster, 2019) to ease and accelerate the work of the engineers. However, further development is required for the automated tool, especially for the layout generation tool to also consider area limitations. This research aims to answer the research question: ‘How can a container terminal be designed in the concept design phase while taking into account area limitations?’. The premise is answered by developing an automated tool (i.e. design tool) for container terminal design that consider not only terminal throughput and design rules for the main input but also terminal shape and dimensions. The algorithms implemented within the design tool will correspond for at least four tasks: recognizing the terminal shape and dimension as the boundary condition, modifying container block configuration (either by enlarging/reducing its size), generating the container blocks, and determining the desired output. After the design tool is developed, it will be validated using case studies from existing terminals by comparing several validation parameters: terminal layout, terminal capacity, the number of blocks, blocks configuration, stacking density and stacking orientation. Other than that, the design tool is also reviewed by using three types of applicability: design alternatives for all types of equipment, element calculation & cost estimation from all design alternatives, and changing throughput demand. In this thesis, we can find the development and validation of the design tool that will give us the answer to the main deliverables of a concept design phase. The design tool is capable of presenting container terminal design alternatives and comparing the layout, elements, land use, cost, and capacity for 4 main types of stacking equipment: RTG, RMG, SC, and RS. This would be very beneficial for container terminal stakeholders, not only for determining which one is the most effective and efficient stacking equipment (which depends on the main objective of the terminal; e.g., lower land use, higher throughput, least labour cost, more sustainable, etc.), but also for getting information of main deliverables at the concept design phase: land use and cost. Other than that, this thesis will also show the design tool’s capability of generating different container terminal design for varying throughput demand and providing information on whether the container terminal has reached its area capacity or not. All of these are resulted from the process of an automated tool, making the design process faster and better, which will be very meaningful in this era of continuous uncertainty. All in all, area limitations have a significant influence in the container terminal design process since it is closely related to container block configuration, which also related to the terminal capacity, land use, and costs. Area limitations will also make the design process even more complicated; and thus, the design tool that has been developed in this thesis for generating container terminal design alternatives is one of the answers in solving the problem.

In the early project phase, decisions are made when considering a port basin berth layout that affects the outcome and the success of the project. In order to make a decision regarding the berth layout, port planners create a set of variants for comparison and assessment in order to pick the basin berth layout that suits the project goals the best. The selected basin berth layout is the preferred variant that will be used to eventually be realised. However, since the decision in the early project phase has a great influence on the entire project, port planners want to improve the decision-making for selecting the best berth layout. This research aims to improve the decision-making process for selecting the berth layout of preference by developing a design generation method for berth layouts and its respective pathway. This method might give insights into optimal berth layout configurations and its pathway in order for decision-makers to assess their preferred variant resulting from the set of variants developed by experts and the generated layout. After the method is developed, the method is tested on conceptual benchmark cases and a real case in order to assess whether such method can add value, or improve, design solutions of port basin layouts during the early project phase. Although limited studies and methods exist that have resemblance or commonalities with berth layout optimisation, the idea is in its infancy. Methods for berth layout optimization have been developed to generate berth layouts and its re spective pathway through the basin in this report. The optimization is separated into two steps: firstly, berth location optimization using a pre-defined central basin pathway, and secondly, optimization of the pathway belonging to the respective berth layout. The separation of the berth location and pathway optimisation reduces computational time. The heuristic berth location optimization optimizes the locations of the berths to minimize the central pathway dredging, while satisfying constraints prescribing a minimal distance between the berths. After the berth locations are optimized, the pathways can either be optimized by means of a heuristic pathway approach, or by means of an exact mathematical pro gramming approach, both of which are developed in this research. The heuristic pathway optimization approach models required dredging by translating the dredging for a berth into a graph with weighted edges and then sequentially defining the route that requires the least dredging per berth, eventually forming the complete basin pathway. The exact pathway approach uses a mathematical programming setup. The methods are applied to conceptual benchmark cases a real-life case. The benchmarks differ in basin dimensions, basin bottom profile, and fleet characteristics. The real-life case concerned the Scheurhaven, which is a small port basin for mainly tugboats. The layout of the Scheurhaven had to be adapted to fit more tugboats in the basin. The Scheurhaven case was optimised with the heuristic approach, due to the potentially large computational time of the exact approach. As the berth locations were limited and the method lacked features to make the design comparable, such as structures and berth geometry, only heuristic pathway optimisation was done.

To facilitate the energy transition, effective collaboration among all stakeholders is necessary. However, there is currently a lack of understanding regarding the impact of different components in the value chain on the energy system's overall structure and the final energy price. This knowledge gap poses a significant obstacle to cooperation and progress in the energy transition. It creates the risk that effort goes into developing certain partial solutions when they may not be feasible from a larger system perspective. By focusing on their own component, stakeholders do not fully take into account the needs and interests of others involved. As the development of green hydrogen projects is in its early stages, it is important to think in terms of systems. Stakeholders should establish an ecosystem where players operating in different parts of the value chain are collaborating together. This helps to de-risk projects, share lessons and promote the development of innovative, first-mover initiatives. This study aims to develop a standardised method to evaluate offshore wind to hydrogen concepts through a techno-economic analysis. This analysis method combines technical analysis with economic evaluation of projects and concepts to determine the potential economic outcomes and impacts of implementing a particular technology or project. Through stakeholder interviews, the study found that stakeholders in the offshore wind and hydrogen market have distinct objectives and concerns. Key factors influencing their willingness to contribute include confidentiality, competition, and reputation. To increase the transparency of the model, it was developed in Python. A standard notation system was developed, which was presented alongside the model's results. This should aid in the understanding of the underlying assumptions.

The canals of Amsterdam represent a draw for tourists and add to the value of real estate along the canals. More than 40 percent of Amsterdam tourists take a trip through the canals, accounting for more than 3 million canal travelers annually. Therefore, the tour boat sector is crucial for tourism in Amsterdam. Many of the quay walls on Amsterdam’s canals have either reached the end of their lifespan or need replacing because of damage caused by overloading and the overuse of heavy supply trucks. Currently, a length of 200 km out of the total length of 300 km of quay walls have reached the end of their 100-year service life, and some walls have even passed that limit. In 2017, five incidents of quay-wall failure occurred. In 2018, three such incidents occurred. Hence, these quay walls are in critical need of replacement. Many are located along busy canals, which means that closing these canals will almost certainly directly lead to the congestion of traffic flow on the water. This is highly undesirable for the tourist sector. At the moment, there is no research being conducted into how to manage quay-wall renovations without disturbing transport over water. The main goal of this research project was to develop a first version of a model through which the impact of the quay wall renovations on transport over water (e.g., passenger transport and pleasure craft) can be assessed. Thus, the main research question for this project was as follows: "How can the impact on nautical traffic flow and congestion patterns of quay wall upgrade works in the canals of the City of Amsterdam be assessed?” A model was constructed based on the Amsterdam canal traffic analysis. An agent-based modeling framework was selected as a suitable framework, because it could give insight into not only if and when congestion occurs, but also why congestion occurs. The ABM framework is able to represent the distinct sailing speed and route selection of each vessel type, can reproduce the (routing) behavior of the three vessel types that interact, and had the additional option to incorporate the irrational behavior. Each vessel was modeled as an entity with its own logic (step-by-step instructions) and making its own decisions while moving on a graph. In order to reproduce observed traffic flow and congestion patterns, modeled vessel objects needed to move through this network, calculate their routes based on the network structure and properties, and queue at crossings. Therefore, this study applied network logic (graph theory) and queueing theory. This project used the open-source NetworkX package in Python to construct a network (graph) based on the spatial coordinates of the Amsterdam canal network, with nodes at crossings and bridges and edges connecting the nodes. Each vessel object in the model used algorithms from the NetworkX package to calculate its route on the network. The model also used the SimPy package to simulate queueing and crossing congestion at crossings with discrete time steps. To summarize, the model simulated on a microscopic level, used discrete time steps, and applied the agent-based modeling framework. As this model is developed within a community setting at the TU Delft, this model, and other transport network analysis models, can be viewed and found at https://github.com/TUDelft- CITG/Transport- Network- Analysis

Implementing renewable energy generation and more sustainable consumption behaviour in the future inland shipping industry is necessary. Electrification of the inland shipping fleet leads to an increase in electrical energy demand on the consumption side. The generation of decentralized photovoltaic (PV) energy systems on board of general cargo vessels can be one solution to these challenges. To estimate the potential of these decentralized energy systems, accurate simulation models are needed. The objective of this research is to determine the photovoltaic potential of the Dutch general cargo inland shipping fleet. A method is developed to simulate the energy yield of moving general cargo vessels. The estimated energy yield is based on hourly power calculations. A difference is made between container and bulk vessels. This simulation model consists of a skyline, a vessel, an irradiance, a PV module temperature, and an energy model. In the skyline model, skyline profiles for 3036 waterway points are generated using LIDAR AHN3 height data. The waterways skylines are corrected for every vessel individually. In the vessel model, AIS (automatic identification system) data is used to simulate the sailing behaviour of 2746 vessels. In the irradiance model, the diffused, direct and ground reflection irradiance received by the PV panel is simulated. The diffused irradiance is calculated according to the Perez model. The PV module temperature is estimated according to the fluid-dynamic model. The additional air caused by the forward movement of the vessel and the water temperature is taken into account. Finally, the PV energy yield is calculated by the received irradiance, the suitable PV surface and the corrected PV module efficiency. An experiment is performed to validate the developed model, where a PV panel is installed on the vessel Harmonie. Equipment is installed to monitor Harmonie during one docking week and two sailing weeks. A co-variance linear regression model describes the relationship between the measured and the estimated PV power. According to the co-variance linear regression model, the P-value for the simulated PV power is below 0.05 and, therefore statistically significant. The outcome of the linear regression model is overestimated by 4 % with a 95 % confidence interval between 0.87 and 1.05. 740,958 PV panels can be installed on the general cargo fleet. Together, these panels have an installed peak power of 267 [MW] and an annual estimated PV potential of 230 [GWh]. The annual PV energy per unit area of a container vessel is 171 [kWh/m2 ] and for a bulk vessel 168 [kWh/m2 ]. The annual PV energy per installed power for a container vessel is 864 [Wh/Wp] and for a bulk vessel 852 [Wh/Wp]. When the outliers are removed from the annual specific power [Wh/Wp] dataset, the complete fleet can be modelled by a Weibull distribution. A t locationscale distribution is suggested when the outliers are not removed from the dataset. The average annual energy demand of a container vessel is 1440 [MWh], 7.17 % of this demand can be supplied by the PV panels installed on the vessel. Bulk vessels have an energy demand of 1350 [MWh] on average, of which the installed PV panels can cover 5.82 %.

In 2050, the entire energy consumption in the Netherlands is foreseen to come from renewable sources. Offshore wind energy has the potential to enable this transition to a CO2-emission-free energy supply. Consequently, the development of offshore wind farms in the Dutch North Sea has been expanding enormously in the last decade. The Dutch Government is also ambitious to achieve biodiversity goals in the Dutch North Sea, by restoring ecosystem functions. The European flat oyster is identified as a key species when restoring the biodiversity in the North Sea, because they embody a distinctive benthic community that provides a range of valuable ecosystem services. The environmental conditions in offshore wind farms have shown to be suitable to act as a habitat for the European flat oyster reefs, because of hard substrate and undisturbed areas. Multiple oyster recovery initiatives have been introduced in offshore wind farms, to kick-start oyster reef restoration. No larvae source is nearby, therefore oysters need to be introduced for oyster reefs to develop in offshore wind farms. These oysters are introduced by applying oyster brood stock structures, which are structures to which adult oysters are attached. The brood stock structures are installed by onboard cranes present at vessels, on the scour protection at offshore wind farms. This crane installation method has shown to be complicated and costly, due to the vessel type and equipment required. These complications result in a challenging and therefore limited application. Hence, there is a need to look for an alternative installation method, that ensures a simple and cost-effective application. Deployment of brood stock structures via dropping from a vessel manually is selected, which ensures easy deployment, because it does not require a crane (and a vessel that can hold this crane). This would decrease the engaged expenses significantly. Such a new installation method requires a different design for the brood stock structure. Research is needed into a new design for a flat oyster brood stock structures, which is appropriate for the drop installation method. This leads to the following research objective for this master thesis; What is the design for a flat oyster brood stock structure, that can be installed at the scour protection at offshore wind farms, via dropping from a vessel, such that it will be stable and integer during deployment and operational lifetime? Based on literature study and consultation sessions with experts, a set of design criteria for the droppable brood stock structure are set. Behavioural predictions are made for the performance of the concepts during the lifetime of the droppable broodstock structure by performing calculations.. which are used to select the most suited concept parameters (e.g. volume, dimensions) for the six basic concepts by an iterative process. Ten concepts emerged. Physical model tests were performed to test the behaviour of the ten selected concepts during the relevant situations. Three types of tests are executed; fall test, land test and stability test. The physical model tests are performed in the wave flume in the Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory at TU Delft. The fall test investigated the fall of the structure from the vessel onto the scour protection, to define the dropping accuracy during the fall. The land test investigates the landing of the structure on the scour protection, by analysing the interaction between the prototypes and the stone layer after dropping them in the wave flume. The interaction observation is used to get insight in the amount of oyster damage encountered during the landing. The stability test investigates the stability of the concepts during extreme hydraulic conditions, by generating storm conditions in the wave flume. To select the design for a droppable flat oyster brood stock structure, the ten concepts are analysed and assessed, using two methods. The first method entails a requirement analysis and a multi-criteria analysis. Two concepts have been selected as suitable based on these methods, A Tetrapod concept and an Open Table concept.

This thesis introduces a new algorithm for optimising shipping routes within a dredging project. Highly dynamic and time-dependent hydrodynamic features influence shipping routes. Due to the complex interactions between the horizontal tide, vertical tide, stratifying forces, wind-driven forces, and limited water-depth, shipping routes were previously only optimised for large scale routes (order of 1000 km). This study presents an algorithm that can optimise shipping routes that are influenced by these small scales (order of 10 km) hydrodynamic features. This algorithm uses graph theory to solve for the time-dependent fastest path between start and destination. Graph theory searches for the optimal path through a set of nodes that are connected with edges. This study uses the time-dependent shortest path algorithm which accounts for the FIFO-criteria (Waiting criteria) and can solve the non-convex nature of the problem The input of this algorithm is a hydrodynamic model. These models are Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models that calculate currents and water levels in a specific domain. The domain is discretised into cells and nodes to calculate these hydrodynamic features. This study uses the nodes of this hydrodynamic model as the vertices of the graph. However, for some cases, the hydrodynamic model has too many nodes for the shortest path algorithm. This study presents a method for reducing the number of nodes without reducing the spatial resolution. The nodes are reduced based on a combination of the vorticity and the magnitude of the flow. This algorithm is implemented in a python software package named Hydrodynamic Algorithm for Logistic enhancement Module (HALEM). HALEM can determine the optimal shipping route for a given hydrodynamic model. Defining different cost functions results in different optimisation purposes. This thesis presents cost functions for the fastest route, shortest route, cheapest route and least polluting route. This software is then implemented in the OpenCLSim software so that this combination of software can optimise routes of entire projects. A case study simulates a beach-nourishment at Schouwen Westkop Noord to demonstrate the practical use of HALEM and OpenCLSim. For this project, 425,500 m3 sand should be dredged offshore and pumped onto the beach. Due to the narrow gullies and tidal changes in hydrodynamic features, the routes were hard to predict. The simulation with HALEM and OpenCLSim shows an increase in the production with 21 % compared to the simulation with just OpenCLSim.

The seasonal Chindwin river (Myanmar) forms the central artery for transportation in the region. However, the dynamic river behaviour, archaic boat equipment and limited monitoring, yearly results in large numbers of grounding ships, causing injuries and economic losses. A pilot project involving CoVadem technology was initiated in the beginning of 2019 to benefit safer navigation on the Chindwin. CoVadem technology can chart the most up to date water depths by collecting under keel clearance measurements from the commercial fleet. The pilot project aims to increase safety on the Chindwin through sharing information about safe routes and forecasted water depths with captains sailing the river. The added value of using CoVadem technology, however, is vulnerable to the number of participating vessels. A combination of morphological changes and the typical spatial spread of CoVadem data limits the extent of the navigation channel that can be derived from the data. With only a small part of the navigation channel known it is unclear where passing of other vessels is possible, where speeds should be adjusted due to e.g., bottlenecks and where shorter routes are present. The objective of this research is to provide more information about the navigable area around CoVadem data in order to assist captains with navigation. During this research, two physics-based models have been developed, able to carry out this task. The ‘soil-model’ combines CoVadem data with assumptions about the maximum slope in the bed. The ‘axi-symmetric model’ utilises CoVadem data, the axi-symmetric solution and assumptions about sand dunes and river banks in a model to estimate a navigable area. Two ‘reliability indicators’ have been developed that can indicate areas of the river where the output of the axi-symmetric model is reliable in its estimate. One indicator is related to the channel stability, it is calculated from many years of satellite imagery. The other indicator is related to channel curvature. To measure the performance of the models and the reliability indicators, two dimensionless performance indicators have been developed: the safety score and the channel coverage score. The models and the reliability indicators were consecutively tested and evaluated for four study cases located along the Chindwin river. The results are promising. It follows from this research that navigation channel estimates around scarce CoVadem ship track data can substantially benefit from application of a physics-based model. The soil-model is very robust, but has limited added value for navigation. The axi-symmetric model increases the navigable width estimate around a single CoVadem trackline significantly O(100 m). The performance indicators can improve the reliability of the axi-symmetric model significantly. This research combines Big Data, physics-based models and remote sensing in a not early demonstrated way: with models tailored for navigable area estimates and with measured data as the starting point. The correlation between axi-symmetric model reliability and remote sensing/curvature is, moreover, something that has not been demonstrated before. Finally, the two developed performance indicators show great promise for the evaluation of navigable area estimates. As such, this research adds to current advancements in (open-access) cross-platform data accumulation and utilisation.

This study integrates strategic decisions and operational control systems in autonomous shipping. By providing ships with situational information and adding a virtual operator, we show that vessels can make informed choices regarding their route and engine settings. To demonstrate this integration, we developed new components that were tested in three lab experiments. The 'green routing' experiment showed the bridge between the control system of the autonomous vessel, operated via Robot Operating System (ROS), to the simulation environment of OpenCLSim. We developed a real-time variant of OpenCLSim and a communication component that could expose the state of the OpenCLSim simulation with the ROS system. This experiment showed that the path provided by the simulation was followed by an autonomous vessel. The 'green steaming' experiment showed that the ship could also adapt its speed based on information from the simulations. We developed an additional communication component capable of advising the vessel about its velocity. Together with the green routing capability, this forms the basis for more complex experiments. The 'port call' experiment showed a potential use case of the green routing and green steaming capabilities. We created a waypoint layout similar to the port. While a ship is sailing, every five seconds, twelve simulations are computed. The scenarios vary in engine order, route choices, resulting in varying emissions, fuel, and cost. We evaluated the impact of different tactics such as green routing, green steaming, and full-speed sailing on operational behavior like steering and engine order. Our approach, using a real-time version of a Vessel in the OpenCLSim simulation software, enabled predictive simulations to facilitate the chosen tactic based on a given strategy. Integrating simulations to evaluate the options with the control systems can develop into a valuable tool for optimizing vessel performance and reducing environmental impact in autonomous shipping operations.

High vessel traffic densities, restricted water areas, and low manoeuvrability are common factors that form constraints for the navigating vessels in port areas. While navigating through these areas, vessels get assisted by the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS). VTS operators (VTSO) are monitoring the vessels in ports and provide the navigating skippers with the required information to ensure the safety and efficiency of the vessel traffic in the port. Information is communicated using very high frequency (VHF) radios on the corresponding VHF-channels of the sectors. In busy sectors in the port, these VHF-channels are very crowded, which results in unclear situations and high workloads for the VTSOs. The Rotterdam Port Authority is currently investigating measures to reduce VHF-traffic. To define effective measures, it is required to understand by which factors the VHF-communications are triggered. In this thesis, a quantitative method has been developed to investigate whether VHF-communications are caused by certain properties of a fairway system. The method is based on analysing VHF-traffic and identify factors that lead to an increase in these communications. The main component is digitizing the VHF-communications, which is achieved by converting spoken VHF-audio bands to text, then dividing this text into different conversations and finally classifying each phrase according to place, time and content. Subsequently, the spatial and temporal characteristics of the VHF-communications are linked to spatial and temporal characteristics of a property of the fairway system, to analyse whether the occurrence of a particular form of VHF-communication is related to the occurrence of that particular property of the waterway system. The method can be applied to investigate the individual influence of several fairway properties, but in this research the focus is on analysing to what extent the fairway property “blocked view” leads to the development of VHF-communications. To investigate whether VHF-communications are related to the occurrence of visual obstructions, a method is developed to estimate the visibility for varying locations and vessel parameters.

A strategy for completing a dredging project is called a working method. The goal of a tender study is to find an optimal working method for a specific project. To find the optimal working method, the full range of possible solutions should be investigated. However, the available resources during a tender study are often limited and trends in the market place a further strain on the available resources. An optimal working method is often the strategy with minimal project cost and project duration. A large share of the project cost is determined by the time that dredging equipment has to be available on site and therefore the assessment of working methods is often focused on the achievable production rates. Therefore the objective of this thesis is to decrease the required time to assess one working method. An analysis of the achievable production rates is typically done in a linear fashion. It is expected that by integrating engineering knowledge and planning by means of a concept evaluation tool the number of working methods that can be assessed, within the same amount of time and with a high(er) level of detail, increases. Development of this concept evaluation tool consisted of three steps: First, the functional requirements of the tool were determined based on interviews with a number of specialists. Theoretical concepts that could serve as a framework for the concept evaluation tool were analysed based on these functional requirements and the choice was made for discrete event simulation. Second, the concept evaluation tool has been developed based on test-driven development. A large database with unit-tests has been created for which the output of each test could be checked analytically, this enabled continuous development and validation. This methodology is very transparent and has not only helped to identify and solve numerous bugs, it has also increased trust into the reliability of the concept evaluation tool. Third, to see if the anticipated improvement could be achieved by applying the concept evaluation tool to a large variety of cases. Cases that resemble realistic problems that Van Oord faces, but also a comparison is made with a tool that Van Oord previously developed for the Fehmarnbelt project. Using the concept evaluation tool shows promising results and Van Oord is continuing the development. For both dredging and offshore wind projects.

In this study, the behaviour of fine sediment in settlings basins has been investigated. The understanding and prediction of return water quality assessments is improved by a comparative modelling study. Settling basins are required to decrease the exhaust of fine sediment particles when dredging and reclaiming land. Fine sediment particles can cause turbidity, which damages underwater life and the environment. Turbidity should therefore be prevented. The study focusses on the assessment on settling basins during a tender phase. Often, limited information is available and time pressure is high. Therefore, it is required to have a straight-forward but robust method to evaluate the effectiveness of a settling basin design in meeting outflow criteria, based on a solid process understanding. With a comparative modelling study, the main assumptions of the current assessment by Van Oord (width-uniform conditions, neglectable density effects) are researched. The models compared are an inhouse tool of Van Oord (RWQ model) and Delft3D. Next to the main assumptions, different types of settling behaviour throughout the basin are researched. The research shows the importance of density driven currents in distributing the sediment concentration over the settling basin. This leads to width-uniform sediment concentration. This explains why the Delft3D model and the RWQ model predict the same outflow concentration (order of magnitude) while having different assumptions. Wind causes additional mixing and therefore higher outflow concentrations. The settling velocity of particles has a very high influence on the outflow concentration. For future assessments the RWQ model can be used. For better process understanding, a Delft3D model could be added. When outflow concentrations are near critical, mitigating measures should be implemented. Mitigating measures are often a fraction of the costs compared to cancelling dredging vessels.

The shipping industry is responsible for almost 3% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and is looking for possibilities to reduce their share. The demand for lowering the emissions of the maritime industry creates the need for insight in the emissions. Currently a generic method to specify emissions in space and time, as a function of vessel and waterway properties is not available. Although most of the emissions of vessels take place at sea, the most noticeable part takes place in ports since they are located close to urbanized areas. Therefore, this research focuses specifically on emissions in ports. The study investigates the impact of sea-going vessels. By gaining insight in the emissions of sea-going vessels, the big polluters can be tackled. Due to the scope of the research, not all vessel types and emission types are taken into account. Ten vessel types are selected and only CO2, NOx, SOx and PM10 emissions are estimated. These are the most relevant polluters in the shipping industry since they cause health and environmental related issues, both locally as more widely. To provide insight in the emissions, the objective of this study is to develop a generalized method to calculate and map the emission of a single vessel in space and time in ports based on reliable data. To reduce these emissions, emission reduction strategies have to be drawn up, targeting the largest emission sources and the most crucial locations. Therefore, the developed method must not only quantify the emission sources, but must also provide insight in emission patterns in ports and indicate emission hotspots. A bottom-up method is developed to estimate the emission of a single vessel in space and time. To derive the emission rate of a vessel, the fuel and energy consumption of the vessel is multiplied by a vessel-specific emission factor. The CO2 and SOx emissions follow a fuel-based approach, in which the emissions produced are directly proportional to the fuel consumption and therefore depend on the engine load. The energy-based approach is used for estimating NOx and PM10 emissions, which cannot be directly related to the fuel consumption but depend on engine characteristics. The fuel consumption is determined by multiplying the energy consumption of the engine with a fuel consumption factor specific to each vessel, meaning the fuel consumption is related to the energy consumption. The amount of energy the main engines of a vessel consume, is the energy needed to overcome the resistance a ship experiences from sailing through the water and is therefore related to the vessel's speed. This speed is derived from AIS data. AIS data represents real-life vessel tracking data and is gathered automatically, which makes it a reliable and realistic data source. It also provides the ability to make the emission estimations time dependent. Due to the global coverage, AIS data is a good data source to develop a generic method applicable to ports all around the world. However, in ports the vessel's speed alone is not a good indicator of the energy consumption, since this neglects the amount of energy the auxiliary engines consume. Their energy consumption is dependent on how much energy the electrical systems of a vessel require at that moment, which can be high when a vessel is for example at berth or manoeuvring. The energy consumption is therefore related to the operations a vessel performs. This leads to an approach which takes into account the vessel's resistance and operational modes. Four operational modes are important to distinguish in ports: 'sailing', 'manoeuvring', 'anchoring' and 'berthing'. According to the operational mode, the main engine power is either estimated with the resistance calculation from Holtrop and Mennen when the vessel is sailing or manoeuvring, or assumed zero when laying still at anchor or berth. According to the operational mode, the auxiliary engine power can be derived from values of the IMO fourth GHG research. Depending on the emission type and vessel characteristics, the emission factor is determined. The algorithm to determine the emission of a single vessel in space and time is implemented in a model. The model's input consists of AIS data providing the speed and position of the vessel, a vessel database containing vessel characteristics based on information from the Sea-web Ships database, and a FISgraph of the port network. This graph contains the fairway characteristics needed to calculate the resistance. The calculated emissions will also be displayed on the FIS graph for a detailed insight in the emission distribution in space. The model provides an insight in the emissions patterns in a port. The fairway sections which are subjected to high emissions can be identified immediately and so the emission hotspots are determined. The source of the emissions can be identified by down-drilling of the emissions. The model can drill down to vessel types, operational modes and all the way down to a single vessel in space and time. The model is illustrated by means of two case studies concerning the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Constanța. These case studies indicate that the port basins hosting the largest vessels have the highest estimated emissions. These basins are indicated as an emission hotspot by the model when the emissions are projected on the FIS graph. In ports generally, high emissions are observed at places with a high traffic intensity, such as the port entrance. Junctions of fairway sections or port basin entrances also show locally higher emissions. The rise in emissions, is probably due to the fact that vessels are slowing down when approaching a junction. This increases the emission rate of a vessel due to more inefficient engine use, but also since they spend a larger amount of time at this fairway section. By indicating the location and source of the emission hotspots, targeted emission reduction measures can be taken. Three of these measures are demonstrated on one of the case studies. The first strategy concerns installing shore power. The model is able to simulate vessels connected to shore power, by setting their emission rate at berth to zero. This simulation is compared to the original situation without using shore power. Out of the evaluated reduction measures, this seems the best strategy to reduce emissions since it shows the largest reduction of the total emissions. Besides that, it is an effective measure especially for ports, since the largest emissions reduction takes place at berth. The second evaluated strategy shows also good results and is about switching from a normal tugboat fleet to a zero-emission tugboat fleet. The model simulates this switch by eliminating all the tugboats from the fleet since their emissions will be zero. This new case is compared to the original situation with normal tugboats. The third option to reduce emissions is applying ECA limits which do not seem to have a lot of effect on reducing emissions except for the SOx emissions. This is derived from comparing the original situation without ECA limits, to a new case study where a situation with ECA limits is simulated. This means that the fuel types of the vessels are changed from the most economical fuel type to the lightest fuel type on board and that the sulphur content in the fuel is altered. However, the model has some limitations. The method does not take into account the effect of currents or variations in time of the water depth. The accuracy of the resistance calculation can be improved by adding these. Furthermore, the emission pattern of tugboats needs further examination as it could not be demonstrated that the split of emissions into operational modes is correctly. The research has also shown that the method to estimate the energy consumption is not suitable for tankers at berth, since their energy consumption pattern is different. The quantity of emissions in the case study of the Port of Rotterdam is far from the expected amount of emissions. The quantification of emissions is assumed to be unreliable and further research should focus on validating these results. Concluding, the developed model makes use of AIS data, local waterway properties, empirical emission factors and operational modes. This data is used in a physics-based method to estimate the resistance and the energy consumption. If this information is available, all this combined makes the approach in principle applicable to any port. The developed model provides an insight in the emission distribution patterns and provides the ability for down-drilling to find the source of the emission hotspots. A targeted emission reduction strategy can be proposed as a result of this and the model has the ability to evaluate specific emission reduction strategies. The strategies can be simulated with the developed model and the effect of these measures can be quantified by comparing the emission reduction strategy to a situation without these measures.

In order to increase safety and efficiency at sea the International Maritime Organization decided in 2000 that all sea going vessels were to implement Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). AIS is an automatic tracking system which broadcasts static and dynamic information about the vessel. Even though AIS was not initially designed for research purposes, large amounts of AIS data are available from which valuable insights can be gained. In this research an AIS Port processes tool is developed, which transforms (raw) AIS data into data containing information about the entry and exit times of certain port locations. With this tool and based on data analysis of multiple terminals, the inter arrival time distribution, the service time distribution and the berth occupancy can be obtained, these are key parameters for using Queuing Theory in terminal design. Following, these parameters and distributions can be compared to what current nautical infrastructure guidelines advise and expect. Insights gained from these AIS data analyses lead to innovative ideas and recommendations for current theoretical frameworks used in port planning.