From Motorways on the Sea to Motorways of the River: A Simulation-Based Decision Making Approach for Developing Dry Ports

摘要

The European Commission has recently published a White Book on the future development of the European traffic policies. In this White Book, a decision was launched to increase the amount of freight carried on the sea, instead of on the land by trucks and trains, which will require harbors allocated at strategic locations connected through high level Motorways of the Sea (MoS) [1]. As a result of MoS, the relevance of gateway seaports, hinterland intermodal transportation, and logistical infrastructures on the waterways have become a critical issue from a global competitiveness perspective. Introduced as the Motorways of the River (MoR) intermodal transportation paradigm, the potential of MoR includes more effective and efficient hinterland connection on the waterways, higher utilization of transport resources and infrastructure through the consolidation of goods flows, and extending the influence of gateway seaports in their hinterlands increasing competitiveness, through better supply chain collaboration and coordination. This allows waterway-based hinterland logistics and associated concepts to take over an obvious role in designing and managing global supply chains. However, this will require determining optimal solutions when deciding on and developing these hinterland hubs. The simulation-based decision making which incorporates adequate scenarios of dry ports in relation to distances, infrastructure, services, etc., is a state-of-the-art approach to accomplishing an optimized solution.