1. Topic 4 – Transportation Terminals
The Function of Transport Terminals
Ports and Rail Terminals
Airport Terminals
Terminals and Security

2. A – The Function of Transport Terminals
1. The Nature of Transport Terminals
2. Passengers Terminals
3. Freight Terminals
4. Terminal Costs

3. 1. The Nature of Transport Terminals
Concept
All spatial flows, with the exception of personal vehicular and pedestrian trips, involve movements between terminals.
Modes assembly and distribution:
Cannot travel individually, but in batches.
People have to go to bus terminals and airports first to reach their final destinations.
Freight has to be consolidated at a port or a rail yard before onward shipment.
Terminals are essential links in transportation chains.

4. 1. The Nature of Transport Terminals
Definition
Any location where freight and passengers either originates, terminates, or is handled in the transportation process.
Central and intermediate locations:
Points of interchange within the same modal system.
Insure a continuity of the flows.
Particularly the case for modern air and port operations.
Require specific facilities to accommodate the traffic they handle.
Points of interchange: within the same mode.
Points of transfer: between modes.

5. 1. The Nature of Transport Terminals
Location
Serve a large concentration of population and/or industrial activities.
Specific terminals have specific locational constraints.
New transport terminals tend to be located outside central areas to avoid high land costs and congestion.
Convergence
Obligatory points of passage.
Invested on their geographical location which is generally intermediate to commercial flows.
Created by the centrality or the intermediacy of their respective locations.

6. 1. The Nature of Transport Terminals
Accessibility
Accessibility to other terminals (at the local, regional and global scale).
How well the terminal is linked to the regional transport system.
Infrastructure
Handle and transship freight or passengers.
Must accommodate current traffic and anticipate future trends.
Modern terminal infrastructures consequently require massive investments.

7. The Function of Transport Terminals
Location
Local
Regional
Global
Infrastructures
Accessibility

8. 2. Passengers Terminals Overview Airports
Passenger terminals require relatively little specific equipment.
Simple structures.
Basic amenities (waiting areas, ticket counters, food services).
Airports
Are the exception.
The most complex terminals.
Passengers may spend several hours in the terminal.
Transiting, check-in and security checks, baggage pick up and customs and immigration on international arrivals.
Wide range of services.
Provide the very specific needs of the aircraft.

9. Chek Lap Kok Air Terminal, Main Concourse, Hong Kong, China
Source: Photo by Jürgen Reichmann. (

10. Distinction by two major types of cargo
3. Freight Terminals
Specialized entities
Specific loading and unloading equipment.
Wide range of handling gear is required.
Differentiated functionally both by the mode involved and the commodities transferred.
Distinction by two major types of cargo
Bulk:
Goods that are handled in large quantities, that are unpackaged and are available in uniform dimensions.
Liquid bulk goods: Pumps to move the product along hoses and pipes; limited handling equipment is needed, but significant storage facilities may be required.
Dry bulk: wide range of products, such as ores, coal and cereals; handling equipment is required; utilize specialized grabs and cranes and conveyer-belt systems.

11. 3. Freight Terminals Warehousing General cargo:
Goods that are of many shapes, dimensions and weights such as machinery and parts.
Because the goods are so uneven and irregular, handling is difficult to mechanize.
General cargo handling usually requires a lot of manpower.
Warehousing
Assembling the individual bundles of goods:
Time-consuming and storage may be required.
Need for terminals to be equipped with specialized infrastructures:
Grain silos, storage tanks, and refrigerated warehouses, or simply space to stockpile.

12. Hong Kong International Distribution Center
Source: Hutchison Whampoa Properties Ltd.

13. 4. Terminal Costs Terminal costs
An important component of transport costs.
Infrastructure costs:
Construction and maintenance costs.
Facilities such as piers, runways, cranes and structures.
Transshipment costs:
Composing, handling and decomposing passengers or freight.
Labor requirement of terminal facilities.
Administration costs:
Managed by institutions such as port or airport authorities or by private companies.

14. Terminal Costs
Cost C1 C2 C3
Road
Rail
Maritime T3 T2 T1
Distance

15. B – Ports and Rail Terminals
1. Port Sites
2. Port Functions
3. Rail Terminals

16. 1. Port Sites
Ports
Convergence between two domains of freight circulation:
Land and maritime domains.
Facilitates convergence between land transport and maritime systems.
Handle the largest amounts of freight, more than any other types of terminals combined.
Infrastructures to accommodate transshipment activities.
Administration:
Submitted to authorities.
Regulating infrastructure investments, its organization and development and its relationships with customers using its services.

17. Port Sites In a delta Margin of a delta Along a river Natural harbors
In an estuary
Near an estuary
In a bay
Protected

18. 1. Port Sites Port sites Maritime access: Maritime interface:
Physical capacity of the site to accommodate ship operations.
Tidal range: difference between the high and low tide. Ship operations cannot handle variations of more than 3 meters.
Channel and berth depths: very important to accommodate modern cargo ships.
Panamax ship (65,000 deadweight tons) requires more than 12 meters (40 feet) of depth.
Many port sites are unable to handle modern maritime access.
Maritime interface:
Amount of space that is available to support maritime access.
Related to the amount of shoreline.
Guarantee its future development and expansion.

19. 1. Port Sites Infrastructures: Land access:
Must have infrastructures such as piers, cranes and warehouses.
Infrastructures consume land which must be available to insure port expansion.
Land access:
Access from the port to industrial complexes and markets.
Requires efficient inland distribution systems, such as fluvial, rail (mainly for containers) and road transportation.

20. Post Panamax Containership at the Port of Le Havre
Photo: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 2003.

21. Basic Constraints of Port Sites
Land Access
Land Space
Port
Interface
Infrastructures
Maritime Space
Maritime Access

22. Harbor Types Coastal Natural Coastal Breakwater River Basins
River Tide Gates
Source: adapted from National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (2005) World Port Index, Eighteenth Edition,
Coastal Tide Gates
River Natural
Canal or Lake
Open Roadstead

23. Number of Large and Medium Ports by Channel Depth
Source: adapted from National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (2005) World Port Index, Eighteenth Edition,

24. The American Waterway System

25. Channel Depth at Selected North American Ports, 1998 (in feet)
Source: adapted from O’Neil, H.O. and M.L. Moss (1998)

26. 1. Port Sites Port development Setting: Expansion:
Dependent on geographical considerations.
Furthest point of inland navigation by sailships.
Fishing port with trading and shipbuilding activities.
Simple terminal facilities.
Warehousing and wholesaling, adjacent to the port.
Expansion:
The industrial revolution triggered several changes on port activities.
Quays were expanded and jetties were constructed to handle the growing amounts of freight and passengers as well as larger ships).
Shipbuilding became an activity that required the construction of docks.
Integration of rail lines with port terminals.
Port-related activities expanded to include industrial activities.
Expansion mainly occurred downstream.

27. 1. Port Sites Specialization:
Construction of specialized piers to handle freight such as containers, ores, grain, petroleum and coal.
Expansion of warehousing needs.
Larger high-capacity ships often required dredging or the construction of long jetties granting access to greater depths.
Downstream migration.
Original port sites became obsolete and were abandoned.
Reconversion opportunities of port facilities to other uses (waterfront parks, housing and commercial developments).

28. The Evolution of a Port Setting Expansion Specialization 4 4 4 3 2 5 1
Downtown
Terminal facilities
Rail
Water depth
Reconversion
Urban expansion
Port-related activities
Highway

29. Evolution of the Port of Rotterdam

30. 2. Port Functions Main functions
Supply services to freight (warehousing, transshipment, etc.).
Supply services to ships (piers, refueling, repairs, etc.).
Concomitantly a maritime and land terminal.
Regional in their dynamics.
Hong Kong:
Natural site.
Geographical position of a transit harbor for southern China.
Singapore:
Outlet of the strategic Strait of Malacca.
Convergence of Southeast Asian transportation.
New York:
Gateway of the North American Midwest.
Hudson / Erie canal system.

31. Port Functions Hinterland Foreland Main port Main port Infrastructure
Maritime Space
Land Space
Regional
port
Regional
port
Hinterland
FDC
Foreland
FDC
Main port
Main port
Export activity
Infrastructure
Source: adapted from R. Tolley and B. Turton (1995) Transport Systems, Policy and Planning, p. 32.
Import activity
Maritime
transport
merchandises
Services to
Services to
ships
Rail transport
Road transport
FDC
Freight distribution center

32. 2. Port Functions Port activities Port types
About 4,600 ports in are in operation worldwide.
Less than one hundred ports have a global importance.
High level of concentration in a limited number of large ports.
Linked to maritime access and infrastructure development.
Gateways of continental distribution systems.
Containerization has substantially changed port dynamics.
Port types
Monofunctionnal ports:
Transit a limited array of commodities, most often dry or liquid bulks.
Specialized piers.
Polyfunctionnal ports:
Several transshipment and industrial activities are present.
Variety of specialized and general cargo piers.

33. Throughput of the World’s Major Ports, 1997-2000 (in millions of metric tons)
Source: Port of Rotterdam

34. Container Traffic of the World 15 Largest Ports, 2003
Source: Containerization International.

35. Traffic at Major North American Container Ports, 2003
Source: American Association of Port Authorities.

36. Problems related to port infrastructures
2. Port Functions
Problems related to port infrastructures
Ports along rivers are continuously facing dredging problems.
Width of rivers is strongly limiting capacity:
Rarely a port along a river has the capacity to handle Post Panamax ships.
Lateral spread of infrastructures (Seaports).
Congestion in central areas.
Port / city competition for land (waterfront development).

37. 3. Rail Terminals Location
Not as space-extensive as airports and ports.
Suffer less from site constraints:
Many established prior to the Second World War.
Cities were more compact and land acquisition was easier.
Passengers and freight terminals:
Different locations.
Central railway stations:
Feature of most cities and tend to be located in downtown areas.
Key elements of urban centrality and activity.
Freight rail stations:
Consume more space.
Tend to be located at the periphery.
Older yards tend to be located at the margin of CBDs.

38. Centraal Train Station, Amsterdam
Source: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue

39. TGV Train at Gare de Lyon, Paris, France
Source: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue

40. Quai d'Orsay Museum, Paris, France

41. C – Airport Terminals
1. Airport Sites
2. Airport Functions

42. 1. Airport Sites
Concept
Airports act as the main technical support of air transport.
Increased pressures on terminals:
Existing terminals have been expanded and new terminals have been constructed.
Replace airports no longer able to cope with the increased traffic.
International / Regional:
Role and function in the international and regional urban system.
Centrality (being an origin and destination of air traffic) and intermediacy (a hub or a gateway between destinations).
Local:
Level of accessibility of the airport over the metropolitan area it services.
Daily flows of planes, passengers, freight to and from the airport's terminals.

43. Geographical Scales of Airport Location
International / Regional
Local

44. Local site requirements.
1. Airport Sites
Local site requirements.
Airfields:
Runways and parking areas.
Long enough to accommodate the takeoff and landing of commercial planes.
About 3,300 meters (10,000 feet) are required for a 747 to takeoff.
Slope (less 1%), altitude and meteorological conditions.
About 32 movements (landings and takeoffs) per hour are possible on a commercial runway under optimal conditions.
Terminals:
Freight and passenger transit infrastructures.
Infrastructures for plane accommodation.
Linked with local transport systems.

45. Air Terminals
Airfield
Isle
Shuttles
Terminal
Terminal 1 2 3

46. Airport Location Factors
City Center
High
Low
High
Commuting radius
Low
High
Low
Benefits
Externalities
Suitability
Location Ring

47. 1. Airport Sites Land requirements
Land required by modern airport operations is considerable:
Landing and take off of planes.
Buffer between the adjacent urban areas to limit the noise generated.
Parking areas in airports located in car dependent cities.
Peripheral sites:
Sufficient quantities of land available.
The more recently an airport was constructed, the more likely this airport is to be located far from the city center.
Expansion and relocation:
Extremely difficult.
Most airports have grown at locations chosen in the 1950s and 1960s.
Most airports are now surrounded.
Only sites available are far from the urban core.

48. Site of the Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Terminal
Northern runway
Train station
Passenger terminal
Future Terminal
Expansion
Light Rail System
Southern runway
Logistics and cargo area
To Kowloon
and Hong Kong

49. Aerial View of Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Airport Terminal
Source: Hong Kong Airport Authority.

50. Kansai International Airport, Osaka Bay, Japan

51. Aerial View of the Dallas / Fort Worth Airport
Source: Unknown.

52. Phosavan Airfeild, Laos

53. 2. Airport Functions Airport activities Economic functions
Terminal activities:
Parking, ground transportation, checking in, baggage-claiming, restoration, retailing and maintenance.
Provide services to passengers and freight.
Airfield activities:
Loading and unloading planes, maintenance and traffic control.
Provide services to aircrafts.
Economic functions
Improved economic opportunities.
Employment (USA):
$500 billion of economic activity.
1.9 million direct and 4.8 million indirect jobs.
Global service activities.
Passengers and freight airports.

54. Passenger Traffic at the World’s Largest Airports, 2004
Source: Airport Council International,

55. Freight Traffic at the World’s Largest Airports, 2004

56. Tons of Landed Freight at Major US Airports, 2003
Source: Federal Aviation Administration.

57. D – Terminal Security
1. Passengers
2. Freight

58. 1. Passengers A focus on terminals Airports
Access is monitored and controlled.
Movements are channeled along pathways that provide safe access to and from platforms and gates.
Safety and theft have been a concern for freight terminals.
Airports
Focus of security concerns for many decades.
High-jacking aircraft came to the fore in the 1970s.
Terrorist groups in the Middle East exploited the lack of security to commandeer planes for ransom and publicity.
Established screening procedures for passengers and bags.
Reductions in hijackings, although terrorists changed their tactics by placing bombs in un-accompanied luggage and packages,

59. Hub-and-spoke networks
1. Passengers
Hub-and-spoke networks
Strain on the security process.
Disparities in the effectiveness of passenger screening.
Impacts of September 11, 2001
Department of Homeland Security established the Transportation Security Authority (TSA).
Strict new security measures:
Restricting access to airport facilities.
Fortifying cockpits.
Extensive security screening of passengers.
Screening:
More rigorous inspections of passengers and their baggage at airports.
Biometric identification for foreign nationals (fingerprint, facial recognition).

60. 1. Passengers
Costs
All screeners (45,000) are now part of the Federal workforce.
Purchase of screening machinery and training of personnel.
Additional delays and aggravation for passengers.
Downturn in air transport.
Some passengers may switch to other modes.

61. 2. Freight Issues Less regulated and greater international dimensions.
Illegal immigrants, drug smuggling, piracy.
The container makes it extremely difficult to identify illicit and/or dangerous cargoes.
Hubbing:
Compounds the problem.
Large numbers of containers are required to be handled with minimum delays and inconvenience.
Automated Identity System:
Permanently marked and visible identity number.
Record maintained of flag, port of registry and address of the registered owner.

62. 2. Freight Each port must undertake a security assessment
Assets and facilities.
Effects of damages that might be caused.
Evaluate the risks, and identify weaknesses to security.
Customs clearance:
All cargoes destined for the US.
Prior to the departure of the ship.
Biometric identification for seafarers to be implemented and that national databases of sailors to be maintained.