Nowadays, freight transport plays an important role in the transport system, insofar as it is a fundamental element for the economic development of an area and a country in general. Knowledge of the effect of the various factors upon freight transport times and costs is essential in different sectors. In the context of strategic planning, such knowledge allows us to appraise different development policies of the various modes, analyzing their respective economic benefits. In an operational context, knowledge of the various factors allows us to determine cost and performance functions. In Italy over 80% of freight is transported by road although the country has over 7400 km of coastline that are well suited to short-sea shipping. The most promising area of development is the tendency to view the Mediterranean as a fulcrum in the world maritime scenario. In particular, container traffic through the port systems of southern Europe have seen a much higher growth rate (+80%) than in those of northern Europe (27.6%) in the period of reference from 1995 to 1998. Ports and freight villages are viewed as centres of transport and freight interchange, equipped to integrate traditional road transport, using sea and rail for long routes. In this paper different types of ships are considered: those support transport with trucks or semi-trailers, namely Ro-Ro ferries with single and double-access, and Lo-Lo feeder or liner ships. Data were gathered from the port of Catania, with subsequent surveys in the ports of Palermo and Villa San Giovanni (Straits of Messina). The shipping traffic observed concerns three types: Ro-Ro ferries (short and long routes) and Lo-Lo feeder ships. As regards the former, the times were recorded for each manoeuvre (2,548 in all) of loading and unloading of vehicles for 38 ferries arriving in port, while 2,692 times were recorded for 29 feeder ships arriving in port. The calibrations have been performed by means of linear regression. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Abstract