Transshipment for the 21st Century

Abstract

Transshipment is a key component of modern-day shipping logistics. Container supply chains rely on transhipment hubs to access remote locations. With globalisation driving growth in container trade, maritime congestion is rising at container terminals in ports worldwide. This is expected to worsen as demand continues to grow. The ill effects of this congestion are particularly being felt along transportation networks between deep-sea container terminals and Hinterland terminals. Therefore, this research aims to suggest solutions that address current problems and meet current targets, while also delivering future-proof and scalable transshipment options across a range of ports and hinterlands worldwide. This work in particular will evaluate the impact of novel maritime concepts such as amphibious AGVs, floating terminals, and super barges and how they can contribute to developing efficient container transportation networks that could address the congestion problem of incoming container barges at deep-sea container terminals. The key performance indicators (KPIs) emphasize reduced maritime congestion, while also aiming to achieve similar daily throughput, transport time, and reduced transporter fleet sizes. To implement this, an agent-based simulation methodology quantifies the existing problems along the deep-sea-hinterland network and validates the feasibility of the proposed transportation networks. The proposed innovative concepts and the current container transshipment scenario are implemented in the simulation environment of the Port of Rotterdam. The global applicability and scalability potential of the proposed transshipment solutions is further demonstrated on a much larger scale by testing them in the Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta, which covers an area similar to the size of the Netherlands. From an innovation point of view, concepts like Amphibious AGVs and floating terminals depict versatility in mobility and flexibility in execution respectively. This work, therefore, opens up an intriguing future scope for maritime transshipment that is both sustainable and adaptable, while also discussing limitations and concerns that need to be carefully considered.