Literature Classification on Container Transport Systems for Inter-terminal Transportation

The upward trend in global containerized trade is predicted to continue. In addition, increasing ship sizes, growing demand for port-centered value added services and environmental considerations are creating challenges for handling port internal traffic, also referred to as inter-terminal transportation (ITT). Container transports are often carried out by truck, which may lead to congestion in the port area. Due to increasing demand for greater efficiency and for more sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches, new transport solutions receive more attention. In order to strengthen their competitiveness, seaports consider digitalization-driven innovations and technologies and intelligent new concepts to improve the quality and efficiency of port activities, including ITT. The main purpose of the paper is to highlight different approaches to conventional means of land-based transport and future trends. Based on an extensive literature survey, a classification scheme was developed and applied to scientific publications. The classification scheme comprises a multitude of criteria, including methodology and research objective of the publication and the degree of implementation and automation of the discussed approaches. In addition, challenging subject areas that might help the discussion of the topic in the future, are identified. The findings show that solutions discussed in literature often provide conceptual and very theoretic outlines. It is particularly noticeable that the publications do not deal comprehensively with the integration into existing logistics systems. This shows research perspectives in most diverse areas including the effective process integration at nodes and edges of innovative ITT networks.