Writing exclusively for Port Strategy, Dr. Nils Kemme of Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC) discusses proven solutions to keeping port vehicle traffic moving and the role of simulation in this.
In Europe, about 75 per cent of all cargo transports are still performed by trucks (www.statista.com, 2020). As a consequence, roads and highways are filled with truck queues. In particular, around ports, trucks with container loads are a dominant picture, often leading to reduced traffic flow and congestion.
This is especially true in so-called port cities, where the ports have grown over many years and are now located in a city centre location surrounded by residential and commercial areas - truck traffic is one of the biggest problems.
TRUCK TRAFFIC FLOW DETERMINING PORT PERFORMANCE AND ATTRACTIVENESS
Even though, most ports and terminals do not directly make any money with truck traffic, it is of crucial importance for the success of ports and a region’s supply chain performance as a whole to keep traffic moving.
The more trucks are stuck in congestion, the less transports can be performed per day, and the more expensive are truck transports, reducing the competitiveness of ports and a region’s attractiveness for industries and commercial activities. Ultimately, bad hinterland connectivity with truck congestion problems will reduce handling volumes and impair a port’s commercial success.
Additionally, trucks are one of the main sources for emissions in ports, causing 20% to 60% of all emissions in ports depending on environmental standards (OECD, 2014). By means of a powerful road network, a port’s carbon footprint as well as harmful emissions such as NOx and particulate matter can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, the traffic flow quality is a main driver for the appreciation and acceptance of the port industry by the city community.
The more often commuters and residents are stuck in congested roads around the port, the less they are willing to accept further volume and traffic growth. Against this background the ports and terminal operators are looking for answers to burning questions about traffic optimisation:
- How to reduce truck traffic and emissions, and how to mitigate its impact?
- How can the traffic flow be optimised?
- Will more traffic deteriorate the traffic quality and lead to congestion?
- Where is the bottleneck in the road network?
- What is the root cause of congestion?
- Is it necessary to extend the road infrastructure or are smarter options available?
UNLOCKING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
In our projects around the globe, I have seen many ports responding to traffic problems by extending the road infrastructure. I am convinced to first evaluate the existing infrastructure to unlock potential by leveraging smart traffic planning and optimisation.
In Hamburg, we introduced a vehicle booking system for the container terminals, which led to a more evenly distributed truck traffic, reducing gate queues and improving traffic flow in the entire port.
There are various options that can help to optimise port traffic, including amongst others as shown by the HPC Traffic Simulation Map organizational measures and minor infrastructure changes such as:
- Optimise traffic light patterns to reduce queuing times at junctions
- Implement adaptive truck routing systems to dynamically bypass congested areas
- Extend port opening times and/or implement vehicle booking systems to smoothen peak traffic volumes
- Install/extend turning lanes to minimize traffic tailback at junctions
- Replace a junction by a roundabout to improve traffic flow
- Add another driving or turning lane to increase road capacity
- Build a flyover to relieve critical junctions
MAKING FULLY INFORMED DECISIONS
The challenge, though, is to take the right measures, as there is no sure formula. Road networks are complex systems which differ notably between ports, which makes it hardly possible to assess the potential of such traffic planning and improvement measures upfront based on experience and/ or simple calculations.
Therefore, in order to avoid costly mistakes and to ultimately make the most out of the road infrastructure, we have been using traffic simulation tools in multiple port development projects.
By means of detailed simulation, that accurately models port-specific infrastructure and traffic flow, the effects of alternative traffic planning measures can be precisely quantified before being built.
For the future expansion of the Port of Bangkok, HPC’s simulation analysis revealed that an originally planned central roundabout would not be able to cope with peak traffic hours but requires an additional flyover for through traffic.
In this way, the port can be saved from long traffic jams and costly mis-investments in insufficient road infrastructure. With another simulation analysis, for a new chemical plant in Germany we confirmed that the expected increase in truck volumes will not affect the traffic quality on the connecting streets up to the highway, thus mitigating major concerns of politics and local residents.
Dr. Nils Kemme, PhD, is Partner and port operations consultant at HPC Hamburg Port Consulting GmbHl leading HPC’s simulation team. Over the past eight years he has planned and optimised port design and operations in more than 35 simulation projects on six continents
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