SMECS: SMart Event ForeCast for Seaports

Hanno Friedrich

Andre Ludwig

In order to counteract disruptions in the transport process at seaports, the actors involved must be proactively informed about the disruption and the new estimated time of arrival. So far, however, there is a lack of comprehensive forecasting models, which can estimate the new times of arrival on the basis of planned and actual data. The SMECS research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) will provide this estimation and support actors in their decisions. Initially, the project will focus on container transport on rail and will be extended to other modes of transport later.
In order to counteract disruptions in the transport process at seaports, the actors involved must be proactively informed about the disruption and the new estimated time of arrival. So far, however, there is a lack of comprehensive forecasting models, which can estimate the new times of arrival on the basis of planned and actual data. The SMECS research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) will provide this estimation and support actors in their decisions. Initially, the project will focus on container transport on rail and will be extended to other modes of transport later.

The aim of the SMECS research project is to design intermodal transport networks in such a way that reactions to disruptions in the process flow can be designed proactively across all stakeholders. The project focus is on the regulation of multimodal transport networks at seaports so that existing capacities can be utilized in a resource-efficient manner. Ecological and economic inefficiencies through ad-hoc solutions are minimized by the developed approach. The project aim to provide the following results: 1) an export forecasting model, which generates forecasts for rail traffic and later for other modes of transport; 2) a risk management model for export, which shows actor-specific action alternatives, depending on the kind of disruptions; and 3) a forecast and risk management model for terminal utilization in import and export.