Simulating the Port Wet Infrastructure: Review and Assessment

Since the continuous growth of maritime transportation due to containerization, ports play an increasingly important role in the freight transportation chain. In ports, high vessel flows and implicit higher densities increase the relevance of the non-terminal related operations. A few simulation models have been developed in the recent decades with different aims and scopes, but none of them has been assessed based on their ability to represent real vessel traffic in ports. In this paper, we identify the main navigational processes and operations related to the port wet infrastructure and review and assess the current port simulation models. The survey of models presented represents an exhaustive overview of the current state of the art of port simulation models. Their assessment focuses mainly on which processes and operations are covered by each model, both wet infrastructure and navigational behaviour, and it also considers where models are complementary and how accurately they are able to represent real navigation. A set of elements is defined and divided in two parts for the assessment: wet infrastructure representation and navigational behaviour. This review shows that the influence of infrastructure design or vessel encounter on vessel navigation behaviour and free path choice have not been implemented in port simulations. Future port simulation models should cover these relevant elements, among others also explained, for a more realistic traffic performance.