PORTS FOR MEDITERRANEAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM WITH MOBILE INTERCHANGE STRUCTURES

This proposal concerns the study of a completely innovative maritime transport system for containerised goods, operate in the Mediterranean basin, carrying out “just in time” shipping and handling of goods. The system called ME.TRAN.S.M.I.S. (Mediterranean Transportation System with Mobile Interchange Infrastructures) is based on the use of two types of ships: “mother” ships are conceived as true mobile inter-ports and “daughter” ships. The network itself stretches along the entire Mediterranean basin and it is built on circular and transversal lines; the connection of these lines is obtained at the intersecting points which actually represent interchange nodes. The work has been developed with a sufficiently detailed level of research as to approximately verify both its technical and economical feasibility. The results obtained have highlighted the following advantages compared to the current system: - Functional (association of a high number of ports with lower time of connection); - Economical (costs of transport considerably competitive); - Productive (realization of the “just in time” in the transportation and distribution of goods). The pre-feasibility study has also analyzed what the annual costs of management for the whole transportation system would be.