The location of East African ports, along with difficulties in building and maintaining effective road corridors, has led to the consideration of intermodal transport through Short Sea Shipping (SSS) as an alternative for load transport. However, this potential solution is dependent on the ports as consolidation load centres and on the configuration of transport networks. This paper provides a method to evaluate the performance of East African ports in their role as a hub for the intermodal chain. Specifically, through an assessment of port indicators ad hoc, the method jointly evaluates the performance of the hinterland's capillary haul and port operations. The proposed indicators aggregately consider attributes of time and cost and compare competitiveness for ports' current status with standard parameters. The application of the method to East African ports reveals that their tariff structure should be adapted to the operative reality of SSS. In addition, the loading time has not proven to be as determinant as the pre-berthing waiting time in the effectiveness of the intermodal chains.
The unbalanced evolution of the environmental normative in the European Union for the different transport modes has led to a broader debate about whether Short Sea Shipping is still a green transport mode. This discussion is especially pertinent because there is no technological alternative indisputably identified as the most adequate one to meet the emission requirements in the emission control area without penalizing the competitiveness of Short Sea Shipping. The objective of this article is to assess the performance of intermodal chains versus trucking in terms of costs, times, and externalities when the selected fleet for Short Sea Shipping is made up of optimal container vessels operating with different propulsion plants and fuels in compliance with emission control area requirements. This is, Tier III-four-stroke diesel engine with marine gas oil, a Tier III-four-stroke diesel engine Tier III with scrubber and heavy fuel oil, and a four-stroke dual engine operating with liquefied natural gas. To this aim, a mathematical model, which is able to provide optimized technical and operative features of the vessels, is modified and solved for an intermodal chain between Spain and France through the Atlantic coast. This study shows that dual liquefied natural gas engines prove to be not only the most sustainable solution but also the most suitable in terms of costs, as long as the difference in price between liquefied natural gas and petroleum fuels is equal to the base case or within a modification range of 20%. This study also highlights that due to the limited range of Short Sea Shipping vessels, the loss of the cargo capacity in holds by the gas tanks arrangement was not significant.
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