Abstract
Container barge (un)reliability in seaports: a company case study at the port of Antwerp
Highlights
Inland waterways and ports play an important role in the entire transport system in the Hamburg-Le Havre range, and for the seaports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in particular
A case study analysis is made for a company, which is affected by this barge unreliability
The research shows that container barge unreliability is a major element, which contributes negatively to the overall barge transport performance, especially on short distances
Summary
Inland waterways and ports play an important role in the entire transport system in the Hamburg-Le Havre range, and for the seaports of Antwerp and Rotterdam in particular. One of the main issues is the insufficiently coordinated calls of barges to many terminals in seaports, next to the lack of a direct contractual relation between deeps terminal and barge operator, which leads to long waiting times, which affects reliability of deliveries significantly This results in a decrease of productivity for the barge operator – which otherwise could use the time saved for sailing. Barge operators need to include large time margins when planning their terminal visits to ensure reliable transport services This affects the productivity of the barge operators negatively, and the deepsea terminal productivity, because the call size of these barges is generally small. In order to explore the problem of barge handling quality at large seaports, the paper focuses on the question what the transport-economic impact of barge (un)reliability at the port of Antwerp is for Umicore, a global materials technology and recycling group located in the close proximity of the port of Antwerp.
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