This study is part of the OPTIMED project funded under the European programme ENPI CBCMED--Cross Border Cooperation in the Mediterranean--aimed at optimising the trade network between the high Tyrrhenian arc and the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean basin. The project focuses on the Mediterranean Ro-Ro Freight sector. The main objective of the study is to design a new optimised corridor between the two shores of the Mediterranean sea. The new corridor, founded on the hub-based concept, is composed by two hub ports: Porto Torres (Italy) and Beirut (Lebanon) serving the north-western area and the south-eastern area, respectively. The new network must be able to ensure scheduled services enabling shipping companies, and consequently all the operators using their services, in order to obtain more reliable delivery times, as opposed to the current system whereby delivery times cannot be guaranteed. The application-area includes 24 ports located within 8 Mediterranean countries. A data collection process has been performed in order to collect the information necessary to define the existing scenario and to characterise nodes (ports) and arcs (links) of the new network. The collected data are divided into demand and supply variables. In order to characterize the new designed transport network in terms of optimal services frequencies, capacities and schedules a two-step optimization approach has been defined: the first step defines the optimal frequencies and capacities of connection services along the various routes; the second step defines an optimal timetable for the organization of the services identified by the previous step. Origin/Destination matrices have been used to calibrate the network and alternative scenarios of future demand have been built-up, in order to determine how the new network structure can be able to match changing demand over the years. Environmental balances have been performed to assess the environmental efficiency of the new network with respect to the existing transport options.
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