Evaluation of freight measures by integrating simulation tools: The case of Volos Port, Greece

Abstract

Simulation modelling tools have been widely adopted for the evaluation of alternatives in transport planning, management and logistics. The complexity that underlies in transport systems and logistics necessitate the integration of different models that are capable of overcoming limitations that may exist individually to each model. Towards this direction, this paper aims to integrate two simulation software and use the integrated model for the evaluation of traffic and logistics measures in the wider area of Volos Port, Greece. The built model is able to simulate the traffic conditions on a transport network along with port's intra-logistics processes and is used to evaluate a set of measures in the year 2030, by comparing it with the situation in the year 2030 without having implemented any new measure. For the evaluation, a set of indicators is used to gauge the environmental and transport impacts. The analysis is completed by using a multi-criteria decision making tool to generate the Logistics Sustainability Index (LSI) to summarize the information that is provided by the indicators. The results show that the use of integrated simulation models can provide a holistic impact evaluation of complex decisions with a high level of accuracy.