COSIMA-ES-PORT: A new Decision Support Model for the handling of road/rail/cargo related impacts

This article describes the results of the research project – WP3 East-west, Interreg IIIB – concerning the de¬velop¬ment of a new composite decision model, COSIMA-ES-PORT, for the assessment of three pre-feasibility studies situated at the Port of Esbjerg: a road project, a railway project and a multimodal terminal. The three studies indicates that a new road connection to the Port of Esbjerg is a very profitable project due to large travel time savings, whereas a new railway connection is not economically viable. However, a new multimodal terminal is also a very profitable project. The COSIMA-ES-PORT model showed some promising perspectives in the handling of the three pre-feasibility studies. Parameters such as cargo handling and ship related issues could with advantage be implemented in the decision model and forecasted similarly to road infrastructure impacts. Furthermore, the development of COSIMA-ES-PORT showed some promising perspectives with regard to the implementation of other means of transportation for composite decision model assessment.