The Impact of Autonomous Intra-Terminal Barge Concepts
A Case Study of the Port of Rotterdam
M.A. Janszen (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
B. Atasoy – Mentor (TU Delft - Transport Engineering and Logistics)
J. Jovanova – Mentor (TU Delft - Transport Engineering and Logistics)
R.A. Zuidwijk – Graduation committee member
Thierry Verduijn – Mentor (Hogeschool Zeeland)
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Abstract
Global container trade continues to grow while climate policy tightens emission and efficiency requirements in major hub ports. European ports such as Rotterdam must accommodate higher volumes and stricter reliability expectations without proportional expansions of quay length or yard space. Within this context, intra-port inter-terminal container exchanges remain a bottleneck. Inland barges provide a low-emission alternative to trucks, but fragmented planning and long waiting times undermine reliability and the business case for modal shift. This thesis examines whether autonomy-enabled modular splitting of barge calls can improve operational performance at the Maasvlakte container terminals.
A port-wide discrete event simulation is developed with deep sea, feeder, conventional barge, and autonomous module services calling five terminals that share a dedicated module-crane pool. Current multi-stop barge operations are compared with scenarios in which barges detach short-calling modules under different barge–module mixes, sea-freight demand levels, module-crane inventories, and module capacities. Performance is assessed using throughput, turnaround and waiting times, berth occupancy, crane utilisation, and anchorage behaviour.
In the recommended 50-50 barge-module mix, modular splitting increases port-wide throughput by about 12% and reduces barge turnaround by more than half compared with current operations, while deep sea and feeder vessels remain largely unaffected. These gains arise from parallel module calls that use residual quay pockets more effectively. Hybrid fleets with around half of inland work carried by modules therefore provide the best compromise between higher throughput and manageable growth in vessel calls. Configuration experiments indicate that two dedicated module cranes per large terminal are sufficient under the tested loads and that medium-sized modules around 24 to 36 TEU perform robustly. Within the limits of the stylised simulation, the results indicate that modular intra-port services can improve inter-terminal operational performance, support port sustainability and modal-shift objectives, and provide guidance for the design of MAGPIE Demo 6.