Seaport capacity manual: application to container terminals

Summary:

This Manual is the second tangible result of the Project “MASPORT: Automation and Simulation Methodologies for the Assessment and Enhancement of the Capacity, Performance and Level of Service of Port Container Terminals” financed  by the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (R + D + I) 2008-2001. As part of the same project, another monographic paper entitled “The Port Container Terminal as a node system in the logistics chain” was published prior to the Manual, while a third paper is envisaged on the subject of technological innovations and the management of such terminals to complete the trilogy.

 Following a brief overview of the developments in berth productivity, this Manual addresses the different types of port terminals and pays specific attention to calculating the capacity of port container terminals, after introducing the concepts of performance, throughput, productivity, utilisation, capacity and level of service. The Manual concludes with a detailed example of how to apply the methodology to calculate the capacity of a public terminal and a dedicated terminal.

 The objective of the Manual is to present a methodology to calculate the capacity of port terminals, specifying the case of container terminals, which can be used as a practical guide to planning such facilities, while at the same time proposing an innovative framework of levels of service.

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