Planning supply transport in port works

Normally public works carried out on ports have a huge impact on the surrounding area due to the transportation of large quantities of raw material. The impact is even greater if the works are carried out in an urban area resulting in serious traffic congestion as well as pollution, dust and noise. This paper proposes a model for the management of such works and is applied to a case study based on the new port at Laredo (Spain). The model optimises the distribution of loads between lorries and barges with the aim of minimising the total economic, social and environmental costs. The total cost of the system was calculated from the costs used in operating the lorries and barges as well as from a social cost represented by the costs to private transport users caused by the increased congestion due to the activity of lorries on the road network. All of this is limited by environmental restrictions aimed at keeping the emissions of both private and works vehicles within the established pollution and noise standards. Finally, a series of interesting conclusions are presented for the correct planning of the transport system that was analysed.