Towards a simulation-based decision support tool for container terminal layout design

Recently, seaports have paid much attention to container transportation by rail to evacuate huge container flow received by sea. In this line, Le Havre seaport, as the first French port in terms of containers’ traffic, plans to put into service a rail-road terminal near the Paris region. The main purpose of this new inland terminal is to restrict the intensive use of roads on the Le Havre-Paris corridor and achieve a better massification share of hinterland transportation. Containers are routed by train between Le Havre and this terminal and the last/first mile remains done by trucks. This paper aims to propose a decision support tool based on simulation for the layout design problem of this new terminal. This tool is tested using a set of scenarios and the obtained results are then discussed.