Decision Support in Short Sea Shipping

Short Sea Shipping (SSS) is commonly defined as commercial waterborne transportation that does not transit an ocean. There is a strategic interest worldwide in ensuring the sustainability of SSS. It remains central to the comprehensive strategy for a clean, safe and efficient European transport system set out in the Commission’s 2001 White Paper, “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”. Some of the main challenges identified include promoting reliability, quality and safety and removing unnecessary costs and delays at the ports. In this chapter, we review related literature on SSS and particularly the role of Port Collaborative Decision-Making (PortCDM) in boosting the efficiency of port operations and providing better decision support by assisting all those involved in the port call process to take more informed decisions. An analysis of recent port call statistics for the Port of Limassol, Cyprus, indicates that there is an opportunity to improve port call data sharing through applying the PortCDM concept.