Tools and Routines to Assist Ports and Improve Shipping 

TRAPIST was a shared cost RTD and demonstration project, partly funded by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework research and development programs.

The overall project objective was to provide support tools to enable ports to enhance the efficiency of their operations and to optimize the planning, management and use of their resources in order to receive cost-effective, safe and high quality services, thereby strengthening their global competitive position.

The operational objectives were :

·       A routine for assessing a port's operational and physical environment, as well as the socio-economic issues that impact on its operations.
·       A decision support routine for assessing a port's market potential, which will monitor global economic developments that affect trade and predict the affects, they may have on a port.
·       A generalized approach for optimizing information flows within a port/terminal and selectively between ports/terminal.
·       An Information Analysis Manual for port operations.
·       A methodology for systematically gathering and analyzing data for ports/terminals and that will provide a common sense approach to solving operational, equipment, information and layout problems of terminals.
·       An Electronic Planning Board for depicting all aspects of terminal operations.
·       A terminal simulation model that will have multiple applications, ranging from terminal planning to providing support in safety training.
·       Technical and operational solutions for achieving optimal loading of ships to cope with multi-port calling, late bookings and cargo surges.
·       A routine for achieving optimal solutions for the combination of ship, port and terminal and their interfacing with customer requirements and trading routes serviced.
·       Physical designs and operational procedures for deploying under-used bulk terminals as intermodal hubs with significantly increased efficiency over current options.
·       An overview of accidents, hazards and safety measures in European ports and terminals that will provide the basis for drawing up the specifications for the structure and functioning of successful Safety Management Systems; a quantification of the benefits of such systems.
·       Innovative solutions for achieving cost-effective training for port and terminal personnel.
·       An application that will assist with the estimation of costs and the quantification of potential benefits (in the context of the overall transport network in which the port functions) arising from proposed capital investments or operations changes in a port.
·       Standards for checking the efficiency of ports and terminals and that will be of direct benefit to the port's several stakeholders; the establishment of benchmarks that may be used as references in assessing standards in individual ports.

PARTNERS
Nautical Enterprise Center Ltd.
ABP Research &Consulting Ltd.
National Technical University of Athens
TFK Transport Research Institute
University of Ulster
University of Liege
Lund, Mohr & Giaever-Enger Marin AS
Global Maritime BV
LogIT AS
Stichting Scheepvaart en Transport Onderwijs
Marine Safety International Rotterdam BV
Institut Francais de Navigation
Institut Superior Tecnicl
Pharos BV
Tees &Hartlepool Port Authority
Port of Cork Company Ltd.
Bergen og Omland Havnevesen (Port of Bergen)
Autoridad Portuaria de Bilbao (Port of Bilbao)
Port Gothenburg
Port of Kokkola
Thessaloniki Port Authority