In the 21st century, maritime landscape is confronted with issues such as congestion and delays due to the ever increasing maritime trade volumes.
This thesis explores the possibility of utilizing the concept of amphibious vehicles as a potential solution to address the issue of congestion and enabling the autonomous container terminal operations. For this research, an agent based model is developed to study the impact of amphibious vehicles on space optimization and reduction of material handling equipment within a given port region. The study analyses the performance of the proposed concept over several key performance indicators such as time taken by a handling equipment from origin to destination, container throughput, handling equipment fleet size and container demand fulfilment rate. The developed simulation model is then applied to the chosen case study of the port of Rotterdam. Additionally, the study also performs a sensitivity analysis to simulate how container demand variations affects the efficiency of logistic chains with these amphibious vehicles. This thesis highlights the effect of these amphibious vehicles on tackling problems faced by container terminals due to increased global trade. Through an extensive analysis of existing literature and developed model, this thesis provides valuable insights into the future of container terminal operations.

Transshipment is a key component of modern-day shipping logistics. Container supply chains rely on transhipment hubs to access remote locations. With globalisation driving growth in container trade, maritime congestion is rising at container terminals in ports worldwide. This is expected to worsen as demand continues to grow. The ill effects of this congestion are particularly being felt along transportation networks between deep-sea container terminals and Hinterland terminals. Therefore, this research aims to suggest solutions that address current problems and meet current targets, while also delivering future-proof and scalable transshipment options across a range of ports and hinterlands worldwide. This work in particular will evaluate the impact of novel maritime concepts such as amphibious AGVs, floating terminals, and super barges and how they can contribute to developing efficient container transportation networks that could address the congestion problem of incoming container barges at deep-sea container terminals. The key performance indicators (KPIs) emphasize reduced maritime congestion, while also aiming to achieve similar daily throughput, transport time, and reduced transporter fleet sizes. To implement this, an agent-based simulation methodology quantifies the existing problems along the deep-sea-hinterland network and validates the feasibility of the proposed transportation networks. The proposed innovative concepts and the current container transshipment scenario are implemented in the simulation environment of the Port of Rotterdam. The global applicability and scalability potential of the proposed transshipment solutions is further demonstrated on a much larger scale by testing them in the Hong Kong-Pearl River Delta, which covers an area similar to the size of the Netherlands. From an innovation point of view, concepts like Amphibious AGVs and floating terminals depict versatility in mobility and flexibility in execution respectively. This work, therefore, opens up an intriguing future scope for maritime transshipment that is both sustainable and adaptable, while also discussing limitations and concerns that need to be carefully considered.