Virtual Prototyping is finding an increasingly strong foothold in the maritime industry as an efficient tool to scientifically evaluate multiple options with applications ranging from simulation of detailed process flow analysis or construction techniques in shipyards to long-term logistic port planning and development strategies. Heuristic based discrete event simulation models have been successfully developed and applied to assist the National Ports Authority of South Africa (NPA) with the development of port infrastructure to cater for future industrial expansions and cargo growth, de-bottlenecking process flows and numerous capacity studies during the past decade. The benefit of identifying potential problems of proposed expansions in a low cost environment has now been extended in a nationwide information system that allows users in any port in South Africa to configure a simulation run and receive results via an automated simulation engine called The Big Picture System.
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