Investigating the Sustainable Impact of Seaport Infrastructure Provision on Maritime Component of Supply Chain

Dariusz Bernacki,Christian Lis

doi:10.3390/en14123519

Dariusz Bernacki, Christian Lis

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123519

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Jun 13, 2021
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Szczecin, Maritime University of Szczecin

Abstract

The aim of the research is to identify and quantify the direct economic effects resulting from the improved seaport nautical access and capacity expansion. This case study considers a regional port located in the Baltic sea and relates to port users, i.e., shipping operators and shippers. The effects were identified for maritime transport by comparing transport performance in two scenarios: with-the-investment and without-the-investment. Incremental calculus addresses freights (containers, dry bulk, and cereals) traded to and from the given port, changes in size of vessels, and the shipping route alternatives vis-a-vis adjacent ports in the range. Sustainable impact concerns generalized maritime transport cost, i.e., shipping operating costs and port-to-port transit time, as well as energy consumption and external costs of maritime shipping. To capture effects, daily and unit dry bulk, as well as container shipping cost, values of time, and marginal external costs were revealed in freight sea transport. As investigated, shipping operators and shippers will benefit from the reduction in ships’ operating (including ships’ fuel cost savings) and time cost, while the community will enjoy the reduction in externalities. However, the main economic effect is the reduction in shipping operating cost resulting from the increased vessel size (economies of scale).

Highlights

A seaport can be described as a place where two domains—the land traffic and maritime traffic—contact and merge with each other
There are three main sources of savings identified in the research induced by improved access to the port, namely:
Savings in external transport costs resulting from shortening of the travel distance are calculated as follows: n

Summary

Introduction

A seaport can be described as a place where two domains—the land traffic and maritime traffic—contact and merge with each other. The key role that the seaport plays is to ensure the continuity between two transport systems that cross two spaces with different characteristics [1], which has operations in a foreland, the port proper, and hinterland, constituting a (sub) supply chain that brings goods from/to the seaside and to/from the supplier/customer in the hinterland. The foreland of a port is to be understood as the land area lying on the seaside of the port, excluding the sea area itself. Sea carriers are the link between the foreland of the port and the port itself [3,4]. Port users are cargo carriers and shippers that utilize ports for freight transportation [5]

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Conclusion