Ports and terminals

By nature port planning is a multidisciplinary activity. It involves expertise in the field of transport economics, shipping, nautical matters, safety and logistics. But also knowledge of waves and currents, sediment transport and coastal morphology, dredging and land reclamation, and design of breakwaters and quays. Hence port planning is teamwork. But within this team the port planner plays a central role in developing the concepts and obtaining the required expertise at the right time.

Former students of Delft University of Technology, who followed the lectures Ports and Waterways in the Master Hydraulic Engineering will recognize this text book as one of the readers they had to digest. It was and will be used in that course, but as there was  also much interest from other universities and practitioners in the Netherlands and abroad it was converted into a published version in 2012.

The foundation for the book was laid by Hugo Velsink during his years as professor Ports and Waterways in the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology. As his successor in 1995 I continued to use the reader and updated it from time to time. For this reason he was co-author of the 2012 edition. The results of his vast experience in port planning and design are still found in this new edition and are whole-heartedly acknowledged.
 
This new edition became necessary due to the rapid developments in some areas such as container ships and terminals, but also to include the results of research carried out by my successor, Tiedo Vellinga, and members of his group, who are using the book in their lectures in Delft. The contributions of him, Poonam Taneja, Cornelis van Dorsser, Bas Wijdeven and Peter Quist are greatly appreciated and acknowledged in the chapters. Furthermore several recent PIANC Working Group Reports provided valuable information for this edition, such as the Design Guidelines for Harbour Approach Channels. 

The new cover photograph shows a part of the Port of Rotterdam with the city in the background. One sees the channels and different types of terminals that are treated in the book. This is to acknowledge the fact that throughout the years the Port of Rotterdam has been a highly valued partner for the University and the Civil Engineering Faculty in particular, providing training places and guest lecturers on specialized subjects, and collaborating in research projects of Port Research Centre, and Smart Ports.