The objective of the INCOMAAS project is to formulate a Master Plan, in which the focus is on an efficient handling of containers at the plain of the river Maas (the Maasvlakte) for the years 1995 to 2020. This paper looks into the main reasons and elements of the expected container flow, and the handling facilities and infrastructure which has to be available at the Maasvlakte for an efficient handling of containers between now and the year 2020. In the next 25 years the total annual number of containers to be handled at the Maasvlakte will, according to the highest growth scenario, almost be five times as high: from over 1.4 million to almost 7.2 million containers. The current available facilities and infrastructure do not facilities and infrastructure do not have sufficient capacity to absorb the rise in container numbers and the shift in modal split.
Abstract