Abstract
Container terminals are the main hubs of the global supply chain but, conversely, they play an important role in energy consumption, environmental pollution and even climate change due to carbon emissions. Assessing the environmental impact of this type of port terminal and choosing appropriate mitigation measures is essential to pursue the goals related to a clean environment and ensuring a good quality of life of the inhabitants of port cities. In this paper the authors present a Terminal Decision Support Tool (TDST) for the development of a container terminal that considers both operation efficiency and environmental impacts. The TDST provides environmental impact mitigation measures based on different levels of evolution of the port’s container traffic. An application of the TDST is conducted on the Port of Augusta (Italy), a port that is planning infrastructural interventions in coming years in order to gain a new role as a reference point for container traffic in the Mediterranean.
Highlights
The recent globalization process has deeply influenced the maritime transport industry, which experienced technological breakthroughs giving rise to containerization and other developments in cargo-handling facilities [1]
In the case of port cities such a growth of container units affects the relationship with the close urban areas: the added value created by ports can be mainly attributed to the economic benefits related to the crucial role played by container terminals in global supply chains [2]; while negative impacts are determined by several factors, such as the influence on the environment and the quality of life of a port city’s residents [3]
This paper aims at proposing an integration of the evaluation of freight transport efficiency and environmental sustainability within commercial ports through an innovative Terminal Decision Support Tool (DST) (TDST) for the planning of a container terminal
Summary
The recent globalization process has deeply influenced the maritime transport industry, which experienced technological breakthroughs giving rise to containerization and other developments in cargo-handling facilities [1]. Such growth of containerization requires the optimal design of container seaport terminals in terms of requirements of space for activities, and in terms of operations and related equipment. Nowadays it is no longer conceivable to think about the optimization without considering the impact that each stage of development has on the environment In this regard both the International Maritime Organization and European Union bodies provide some important guidelines that should be considered before planning any port expansion [6,7,8,9,10]
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