Coordinated approach for port operation and vessel traffic scheduling in Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) terminals: a case from Sweden

Abstract

Shipping is the foundation of international business, includes various stakeholders such as terminal, shipping lines, cargo owners, and port authority. These stakeholders are important for the efficient supply chain and logistics operation. One of the stakeholders that is terminal act as a connecting entity among all other stakeholders. Therefore, the terminal operation efficiency depends on the coordination between terminal, shipping line and cargo owner. The thesis explores on finding the challenges causing disruption in the Ro-Ro terminal operation and the current digital technologies used to reduce these challenges. The methodology comprises of a deductive research approach, that has been applied to develop the Theoretical Framework. The study emphasized to collect data through qualitative research method from a single case study that includes semi-structured interviews. The data collection from interviews were conducted with two terminal managers and one ship’s cargo officer. The themes from literature review were highlighted as challenges in cargo operation, vessel scheduling and adoption of DT technology in the thesis. The findings of the thesis showed that the digital technologies were present in the terminal operation, but the full utilization could not be achieved. The thesis provided the useful insights on using DT simulation model and requires coordination between different stakeholders to enhance port operational efficiency.