The study is focused on terminal operators as well as shipping lines involved in SSS practices. We hope to improve their understanding of the effects of cost, capacity and time on the different handling systems employed. In particular, we will focus on two ports in the context of a case study. The port of Kalshamn, situated in the South East of Sweden, west of the Baltic Sea, and the port of Klaipeda that lies along the Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, south of Lithuania, considered an important link involved in SSS between the east and the west in the Baltic Sea Region.
In addition to a systematic literature review on SSS and handling systems that has been carried out, the goal of the study has also been to use appropriate optimization tools and techniques to address a “real-life” practical problem. Thus relevant assumptions necessary to apply these techniques have been made in developing the model following the Operational Research process (L. Radon 2000) while minimising the gap from physical reality.