Optimal Design Of The Seaport-Dry Port System

Nowadays,one of the global trends is the growth of the world container throughput,which reached approximately 888 million TEU in 2022,increasing by 21%compared to 2017.However,the overall continuous increase of the global container throughput of freight ports has brought disruptions.As an important measure to improve the efficiency of Marine container terminals,Seaport-Dry port System（SDS）has been established,which is a joint operation between seaport port and dry port.In order to fully exploit the synergistic effects of SDS,port managers need to conduct in-depth analysis of the influencing factors of SDS,and carry out appropriate design and flexible planning.In this thesis,the physical and technical parameters and traffic flow parameters of SDS are studied and optimized by means of Strategic Facility Planning（SFP）.The study aims to improve the performance of SDS,enhance the throughput and handling capacity of Marine terminals,and reduce the construction cost of dry ports.This thesis carried out the following research:（1）Analyzing how major cargo ports apply SDS to solve congestion problems that negatively affect their operations.This thesis shows that there is a gap between the growth of container volume and the demand for cargo transportation at the world’s major seaports,and points out that this is mainly due to the proximity of cargo ports to residential areas and their limited throughput,handling and storage capacity.At the same time,this thesis proposes to use SDS to solve these problems.However,it is difficult for decision makers to determine the optimal parameter set of SDS,which makes it difficult for decision makers to choose the best location of dry ports,which means that researchers need to use a variety of dry port parameters and study their direct interrelations.（2）Selecting and justifying the main parameters of SDS.This thesis identifies the links between SDS parameters by studying the influence of different external factors such as society,infrastructure,economy and environment on various parameters of SDS.In addition,the thesis proposes an assumption to determine the relationship between the dry port parameters,that is,there is an interdependent relationship between single dry port parameters or pairs of parameters.Through a literature review,it is found that existing studies have not systematically investigated the effects between these parameters.To solve this problem,the main parameter system of SDS is designed in this paper.This system can be applied in the SFP phase to assess the initial efficiency of SDS implementation and to make critical investment decisions.（3）Designing the optimal SDS.The thesis applies the product life cycle theory to understand the system behavior,and then describes the main parameters of SDS to evaluate the maximum operating efficiency of SDS.The main parameters of the SDS are（λ）intensity of traffic flows,（TEU/day）;(K_ir)coefficient of variation of traffic flows;（L）distance between the seaport and dry port（km）;(T_tc)throughput of transport communications（pairs of trains/day）;（E_m）the location of the dry port,characterized by the volume of grading operations at the potential area of dry port location（score）;（V）storage capacity of the dry port（TEU）;（n）handling capacity of the dry port（TEU/day）;（E_f）environmental parameter considered in the dry port allocation（score）;（G_c）general costs of the dry port construction（mln USD）;（O_c）operational costs of the seaport–dry port system（thousand USD/month）.Finally,we propose the methodology to design the optimal SDS,which can be applied by different stakeholders such as local governments,port managers,etc.（4）Modelling and simulation of the optimal SDS.In order to test the proposed method,this thesis presents a set of analysis and simulation models consisting of three simulation stages.In the first stage,the agent-based system dynamics model is proposed to search for the average optimal values of the main parameters of the SDS considering the maximum intensity and irregularity coefficients of the traffic flow.In the second stage,the maximum throughput and handling capacity of the seaport can be evaluated through an agent-based discrete event simulation model of Marine terminal operation.In the third stage,the mean values of the main SDS parameters are improved by the developed agent-based discrete event simulation model.（5）Case studies.This thesis presents two case studies:the Evyapport Port（Korfez,Turkey）and the NBCT container terminal（Ningbo,China）–dry port system,that are the parts of the international transport corridors（ITC）such as the North-South ITC and the East-West ITC.The obtained results show the implementation of the dry port into the simulation model reduced the dwell times of the container vessels at anchorage areas,the dwell times of wagons on railway tracks dwell time of the containers in the systems.The reduction of the dwell times has increased increase the container volumes of both seaports.Based on the carried research,in this dissertation the MPSDS system is identified to evaluate the operational efficiency and sustainability of the SDS.This system has given the understanding of how these parameters are interrelated between each other and provided the gap in previous studies of inverse interrelations between main parameters of a dry port.To optimize the MPSDS,a set of hybrid simulation models is developed.To make an express evaluation of the preliminary implementation of SDS,an agent-based system dynamics simulation model is designed.To clarify the obtained averaged benefits of the MPSDS while the port managers make key decisions on the investments into implementation of the MPSDS,an agent-based discrete-event simulation model of SDS is developed.The developed set of models allows to compute the balanced values of the parameters,while an effective operation of the SDS system is achieved.On the basis of the provided case studies on one of the busiest ports in Turkey and China,the adequacy and validity of the developed simulation models is proved.Due to the lack of systematic approach to optimization of the MPSDS in logistic industry,the obtained findings set in this dissertation could improve the decision-making process related to the selection of strategic facility planning in the field of SDS.