Ammonia stands out as a promising option for maritime fuel, offering the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, its adoption comes with inherent risks, including: toxicity, flammability, corrosiveness, and odor. As the maritime industry is in the initial stages of the exploration of using ammonia as fuel, it is imperative to acknowledge and address these risks. This work focuses on the acknowledging port authority and terminal operators, whose responsibilities are a safe and efficient facilities construction and inter terminal fuel transportations. This profound risk assessment should be conducted in advance to identify risks alongside with potential consequences. In this article, we provide a risk assessment framework consisting of qualitative and quantitative assessment tools. This framework can facilitate the responsible integration of ammonia as a maritime fuel at the port level. In particular, it can provide the port authorities with meaningful guidance for the prevention and risk mitigation strategies for ammonia storage and bunkering to the vessels. This work aligns with the concept of physical internet nodes, as it illustrates how an emerging application such as alternative fuel is embedded and integrated into a connected multi-machine system like inter-terminal logistics@en

The emergence of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for freight transport in recent times has created interest among practitioners and researchers to extend freight ITS to support broader logistics processes, including dynamic tour scheduling, loading and unloading, warehousing, and even production. However, connecting transport data, ITS and logistics information systems require collaboration between different organizations and new business models to create business value for logistics actors. It is critical for these stakeholders to consider how their business models connect to create meaningful new data-to-information value chains. This study develops a conceptual framework to identify opportunities for logistics value creation with freight transport data. Building on the literature we construct a framework that reconciles multi-firm and firm-level business modelling. The main component is a generalized framework for Data-to-Value (DtV) chains for applications in information and communications technology. In order to support its business validity, we extend this framework with Business Model Canvases (BMCs) of the actors in the value chain. Three real-life use cases from a freight ITS community in the Netherlands are used to evaluate and illustrate the framework.

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High-speed rail (HSR) is frequently seen as a promising alternative for long-distance travel by air and road, given its environmental advantages whilst offering a competitive level of service. However, a European HSR-network is yet to be realised, with the current state amounting to a patchwork of poorly connected subnetworks. Consequently, this results in a suboptimal performance from a user, operator and societal perspective. We present a customised version of the Transit Network Design and Frequency Setting Problem (TNDFSP) for the long-distance transport context and HSR in particular. We apply an adapted version of a heuristic solution approach to analyse the users’, operators’ and societal performance of a European HSR-network by conducting an extensive series of experiments to test the network's performance under various policy priorities and HSR design variables. Our experiment results show that designs resulting from the consideration of externalities yield more extensive networks with larger coverage and modal shifts. For such networks to materialise, high public investments are needed. The obtained network designs contain four different line types, exhibit spatial disparities in network density, and allow for the identification of potential hubs and critical infrastructure. The strong network integration with overlapping and border-crossing lines of substantial lengths highlights the importance of cross-border cooperation and rail interoperability. We hope our findings will contribute to the ongoing public and professional debates on designing an attractive and competitive European HSR-network.

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Port terminals on floating modular platforms are a conceivable solution for the problem of limited space and water depths restrictions of ports in estuary regions. A design of a dedicated Transport&Logistic hub has been developed in the scope of the Horizon 2020 project Space@Sea. This paper addresses dedicated options of waterborne hinterland transports and discusses opportunities for bypassing onshore terminals by means of river-sea or sea-going inland vessels. A tailored simulation method for ship operations utilises a specific cost model and is applied to derived demand scenarios. Cargo flow statistics of an onshore port have been projected onto the hub to identify relevant waterborne transports to the hinterland. Three different vessel types are implemented, whereas inland vessels are considered with two different sizes. A comparison of round trip durations and transport costs per transported container between a floating terminal and a relevant hinterland port pointed out, that a non-stop connection with sea-going inland vessels is the economically favourable solution. A feeder vessel is the faster solution in coastal waters but it can not compensate the time saved by omitted terminal visits on a direct hinterland connection.

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While the procurement decision is generally made by individual buyers, this study investigates how a group of buyers can make a shared decision. We call this collaborative approach, co-procurement. A mathematical model is formulated for the decision of procurement from multiple suppliers. The model is solved for individual buyers. The outcome shows the optimal number of items a buyer should buy from different suppliers such that the total cost is minimised for that buyer. Next, it is investigated how a group of buyers could make this decision together. The proposed model takes into account transaction costs of collaboration, to determine the optimal size of the collaboration and the involved parties. The idea is new in the old direction of procurement and it introduces the concept of transaction costs in this area and analyses its impact on the optimal collaboration size and mix. A case study from Dutch Food Valley is provided to investigate the benefits of co-procurement and validate the developed structure. The results indicate that co-procurement can bring considerable cost-savings through consolidation of orders and more efficient transportation schedules. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the impact of changes in the transaction cost in favour of the co-procurement.

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Parcel delivery operators experience an increasing pressure to meet the strongly growing demand for delivery services, while protecting city livability and the environment. Improving the performance of the last mile of delivery is considered key in meeting this challenge as it forms the most inefficient, expensive, and environmentally unfriendly part of delivery operations. A primary cause is a significant duplication of service areas, resulting in redundant vehicle kilometers traveled. In this paper, a new method is presented that allows for the allocation of parcels to delivery vehicles and construction of vehicle routes in real time through an auctioning system. These tasks are performed in a self-organizing manner by vehicles, parcels, and a supporting platform, to allow for collaborative and intermodal delivery. The performance of this new method is tested and compared against the currently used techniques using an agent-based simulation model. The new method manages to greatly improve the efficiency, robustness, and flexibility of delivery operations.@en

The design and development of an offshore port terminal is a complex task that involves distinctive design and decision challenges. In this paper, we propose the implementation of a floating, modular, platform that can act as an additional terminal of a port, with the aim of expanding its current container handling capacity. To this end, we introduce a generic methodology to tackle three aspects of an offshore terminal: terminal layout design, strategic logistics optimization, and operational process coordination. The terminal layout design includes the modular arrangements, handling on and between platform modules by the associated equipment. To select the final layout design concept, we evaluate different alternatives on criteria such as layout complexity, scalability, and the number of moves associated with the modular nature of the platform. Subsequently, the selected concept is given as input to a strategic logistics optimization approach that introduces a mixed-integer linear programming model. The proposed model minimizes the capital, operational, and maintenance costs of the floating modular terminal, i.e., number and size of modules, number and type of equipment, as well as capacities. In parallel, we develop a simulation of the floating terminal’s hinterland connections, where the number and type of required vessels are specified for relevant destinations and transport configurations. At the operational level, we focus on the coordination of handling equipment on the offshore platform by employing a tailored simulation/optimization approach. Our methodology is demonstrated on a case study that considers accommodating the growth of a port in the Hamburg-Le Havre range via the use of a modular, floating, transport, and logistics hub.@en

Increasing international maritime transport drives the need for efficient container terminals. The speed at which containers can be processed through a terminal is an important performance indicator. In particular, the productivity of the quay cranes (QCs) determines the performance of a container terminal; hence QC scheduling has received considerable attention. This article develops a comprehensive model to represent the waterside operations of a container terminal. Waterside operations comprise single and twinlift handling of containers by QCs, automated guided vehi- cles and yard cranes. In common practice, an uncoordinated scheduling heuristic is used to dispatch the equipment operating on a terminal. Here, uncoordinated means that the different machines that operate in the container terminal seek optimal productivity solely considering their own respective stage. By contrast, our model provides a coordinated schedule in which operations of all terminal equipment can be considered at once to achieve productivity closer to the QC optimal. The model takes the form of a hybrid flow shop (HFS) with novel features for bi-directional flows and job pairing. The former enables jobs to move freely through the HFS in both directions; the latter constrains certain jobs to be performed simultaneously by a single machine. We solve the coordinated model by means of a tailored simulated annealing (SA) algorithm that balances solution quality and computational time. We empirically study time-bounded variants of SA and compare them with a branch- and-bound algorithm. We show that our approach can produce coordinated sched- ules for a terminal with up to eight QCs in near real time.@en

This paper presents a mathematical programming model for planning investment strategies in a modular floating terminal. The model is developed with the objective of minimizing the net present costs of a terminal's investments, equipment selection and operational costs over a long term future. The problem formulation evaluates time dependent parameters, such as container throughput forecasts, and performance, quality and availability of equipment over time. The results provide a visualization of investments for a modular floating terminal design, and are geared towards assisting stakeholders in strategic level planning – the optimal way to invest in new terminal setups, infrastructure and equipment selection.@en

The scheduling of quay cranes is a core logistics challenge that affects significantly the loading and unloading time of a vessel berthed at a container terminal. In this paper, we study the Stochastic Floating Quay Crane Scheduling Problem involving cranes situated on the quay of an offshore modular platform. Specifically, we consider the case in which each crane is situated on a different module of the platform, thereby confining its operation range. Additionally, we assume stochastic crane productivity rates due to the effect of the offshore wind. To tackle the problem, we propose a simheuristic framework, which combines Iterated Local Search with Monte Carlo Sampling into a joint collaborative scheme. The main objective is to minimize the expected completion time of the loading and unloading process taking into account precedence, nonsimultaneity, non-crossing, and spatial constraints of the problem at hand. The performance of the proposed simheuristic is investigated on a set of established problem instances across different configuration parameters and under various real-world environmental scenarios offering insightful conclusions.

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This paper investigates the optimization of biomass terminal equipment deployment. A mixed integer linear programming model is developed and applied to minimize the terminal's investment and operational costs related to dedicated and partially used or shared equipment between a terminal's operational steps. The results minimize annual terminal costs through equipment and infrastructure selection and utilization. Tipping points where the technology and equipment type or size change in relation to the increasing throughput are highlighted. Analytical results emphasize the importance of storage costs in all biomass terminals, as well as the critical influence of operational costs in larger facilities.

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Fresh cut flower supply chains are aware of the need for reducing spoilage and increasing customer satisfaction. This paper focuses on a part of the cut rose supply chain, from auction house to several end customers. A new business mode is considered that would allow end customers to subscribe to florists and have a continuous supply of bouquets of roses. To make this business mode feasible, we propose to benefit from real-time information on roses’ remaining vase life. First, a quality-aware modeling technique is applied to describe supply chain events and quality change of cut roses among several supply chain players. Then, a distributed model predictive control strategy is used to make up-to-date decisions for supply chain players according to the latest logistics and quality information. This approach provides a tool for multiple stakeholders to collaboratively plan the logistics activities in a typical cut rose supply chain based on roses’ estimated vase life in real time. The proposed approach is compared with a currently used business mode in simulation experiments. Results illustrate that the new business mode and the planning approach could reduce unmet demand and spoilage in a cut rose supply chain.

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Modern technologies have enabled approaches to estimate freshness of perishable products during production and distribution. Nevertheless, the loss of perishable goods is still high due to the deteriorating nature and inefficiencies in supply chains. This research focuses on improving the scheduling of banana logistics using real-time quality information. Bananas are typically shipped from tropical production sites to other places in the world. With temperature controlled reefer containers and sensor technologies, bananas can be monitored during transport and situations like early ripening can be predicted. In order to minimize spoilage, we propose a mathematical model for scheduling logistics activities with the consideration of both the biological process and the logistics procedure of bananas. Results of simulation experiments indicate that the method could reduce spoilage using real-time monitoring and scheduling.@en

Marine litter in port areas has a huge negative environmental impact and poses a risk to vessels. Therefore port authorities are using special vessels for sweeping. Nowadays, these vessels are usually only deployed after complaints on excessive amounts of marine litter. In this paper an innovative routing method is proposed to sweep marine litter in a port area proactively. The routing method is formulated as a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model. In order to test the sweeping model a dynamic model is developed that predicts the locations in the port area where marine litter will accumulate depending on factors like supply, physical dimensions of port compartments and wind directions. To benchmark the performance of the sweeping model simulations are performed comparing the routing method with other more intuitive policies. It is concluded that using the sweeping policy lower litter levels can be achieved at lower costs.

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Coal-fired power plants need a reliable and steady supply of coal for their operation. The set-up of an import terminal requires huge investments in facilities like harbour infrastructure, stockyards and equipment. When multiple power plants are closely located, sharing of facilities can be very profitable. The objective of this study is to gain insight in facility sharing for dry-bulk environments. Cooperative game theory is used to distribute the expected benefits from different levels of collaboration between participants. In order to take stochastic influences into account and also to quantify the effects of collaboration on the reliability of the terminal a detailed simulation model is built. This simulation model is used to evaluate terminal performance in possible cooperative and non-cooperative terminal configurations. The results of the study show that facility sharing is very profitable. Furthermore, the non-trivial outcome of the cost allocation proofs the value of an approach using game theory.@en