A port of new generation with European gateway function: performance and rail capacity of the Vado-Italy container terminal = A port of new generation with European gateway function: performance and rail capacity of the Vado-Italy container terminal

The continuous development of the traffic flow of containers and, in general, of freight brings the attention to a focal point: their handling. The container terminal is a very important junction for the multiple supply-chain processes and it may be seen as the most complex area within freight transport. The target of this M.Sc. thesis is to evaluate the capacity and the performance of a new generation container terminal located in Vado Ligure (Savona, Italy) whose activation has been planned since the end of 2019. With the constant development of transport economy - influenced by different factors, like technology, economy, ecology, safety, politics and society - the biggest companies of maritime freight transport started to build ever-bigger vessels. Thus, the magnification of the container ships has brought to the necessity to have larger ports with a greater draft. Vado Ligure, differentiating itself from the other ports in Italy and of the Mediterranean area, has a very deep seabed, that gives the option to accommodate such kinds of container-vessels. For this reason, Maersk chose this site to build the new terminal container. With such superstructure, it is possible to invert the trend of traffic flow that from Eastern countries bring containers and bulk cargo to North-European ports, like Rotterdam and Hamburg, for trade in Central and South Europe. With the study of infrastructure, its equipment, traffic and the evaluation of capacity, it is possible to investigate whether the supply-chain with related handling equipment and rail infrastructure need some improvements. The need of upgrading depends on the growth of traffic, in terms of containers (TEUs), and it depends on targets that the company has in function of the split of the modal choice. The company’s goal is to reach indicatively 40% of traffic on rail, the remaining one by road.