Paper Info
Title
Design And Optimisation Of An Innovative Two-Hub-And-Spoke Network For The Mediterranean Short-Sea-Shipping Market
Abstract
Short Sea Shipping (SSS) is generally considered as a privileged transport mode in terms of reducing road congestion and related external costs. In the last two decades, SSS has attracted a lot of attention in the European Union, where it is also regarded as a key factor for economic and social cohesion between countries. In this regard, the present study proposes a new network design that aims at improving and increasing freight traffic between the north-western and the south-eastern shores of the Mediterranean Basin. The proposed model, designed for Ro-Ro (Roll-on Roll-off) freight transport, tries to overcome the limits of the existing multi-port-calling services through an innovative two-hub-based scheme of better scheduled and reliable frequencies and more competitive delivery times. The operating parameters of the new network are determined using a specially designed optimisation approach based on two separate but related mathematical models: a Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model for Service Frequency Selection and a Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model for Service Timetabling. Numerical tests, performed on real demand and supply data covering 23 ports in 8 Mediterranean countries, show the validity of the proposed approach to determine an optimal network configuration for the organisation of transport services in the area.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1016/j.cie.2020.106847
COMPUTERS & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Network design optimisation, Mediterranean corridors, Short Sea Shipping, Service frequency selection, Ro-Ro Market, Motorways of the Sea
Journal
149
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
0360-8352
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Paolo Fadda1182.16
Gianfranco Fancello2182.84
Simona Mancini300.68
Claudia Pani400.34
Patrizia Serra501.35