Alberto Camarero

• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

This study presents a structured multi-agent system (MAS) architecture aimed at optimizing operational efficiency in roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) terminal management through intelligent coordination and decentralized decision-making. The proposed framework enhances space allocation, route planning, traffic control, and boarding coordination, enabling r...

The digital transformation of the maritime sector, driven by Industry 4.0, is reshaping port operations toward smarter and more sustainable models. This paper analyzed the implementation of Port 4.0 technologies in the Spanish port system through the lens of the Blue Ocean Strategy. By redefining competitive boundaries and applying tools such as th...

Maritime transport is essential to global trade, but port activities have a substantial environmental impact. This study develops and applies a structured evaluation framework—combining SWOT-CAME (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats–Correct, Adapt, Maintain, and Explore) analysis with Delphi Panel validation—to assess the digital tran...

The problem addressed in this paper is the identification and management of risks associated with the implementation and operation of green hydrogen in the Spanish port system. The growing demand for clean energy and environmental regulations are driving the adoption of green hydrogen as a viable solution to decarbonize shipping. However, this tran...

The fishing sector is a key component of the European Blue Economy, contributing to economic growth, food security, and employment. However, it faces sustainability challenges, including overfishing, biodiversity loss, and climate change impacts. This study uses decision tree modeling to assess the sector’s prioritization within the Blue Economy, c...

This study examines the impact of monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system indicators on the costs associated with the emissions trading system (ETS) of the maritime sector in the European Union. Since maritime transport has recently been incorporated into the ETS, it becomes essential to understand how different operational and environ...

This research explores the role of innovation in fostering sustainability within the Spanish Port System, emphasizing its implications for transport infrastructure. It examines the intersection of innovation and sustainability, addressing key challenges such as maritime traffic growth, energy efficiency, waste management, and community integration....

The implementation of the metaverse in Spanish ports poses challenges and opportunities, but it is crucial to identify and prioritize the key factors ensuring a successful transition to this new technological paradigm. To date, the literature has explored various aspects of digital transformation in ports, but few studies have specifically addresse...

The digital transformation of port infrastructure is a key element in the evolution towards Smart Ports and Industry 4.0. This paper presents an optimized port asset management system based on Digital Twin technology and BIM/GIS integration, aiming to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and decision-making in port operations. The proposed system le...

This study examines the integration of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and blockchain as tools to optimize traffic management in Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) terminals within the Spanish port system. Faced with increasing operational complexity, these technologies present innovative solutions to enhance efficiency, reduce waiting times, and ensure trans...

This chapter explores the management of cruise tourism in the port of Ibiza, focusing on its recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective is to assess how port infrastructure and transport options have adapted to support the growth of cruise traffic while emphasizing sustainability. The methodology involved a comprehensive review of...

The fight against climate change is one of the main global challenges of our time, and the European Union (EU) seeks to achieve climate neutrality and energy transition for the continent by 2050 through various policies. This research studies the economic implications of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) on European ports. By analysing various...

In the rapidly evolving educational landscape, a prime example is Spanish universities which have integrated Internet of Things (IoT) technologies aimed at redefining teaching and learning experiences. This chapter explores the current state of IoT adoption in Spanish universities, identifies the main challenges preventing its widespread implementa...

Background: Digital governance currently presents challenges in the context of ports, where efficiency and transparency are key elements for the success of operations. In ports, the effective adoption of digital governance can have a significant impact on optimizing operational processes and improving coordination between port authorities, logistic...

A metaverse is an environment where humans interact socially and economically as avatars in cyberspace, which acts as a metaphor for the real world but without its physical or economic limitations. Many people use this new technology to connect with others, exchange content or discover new hobbies. Unlike other virtual worlds, the metaverse offers...

The Spanish port system is a modern port system located on the main transport routes in the world, and the digital transformation associated with the port world is being a priority element of development to enhance efficiency. Technologies, such as Digital Twins, the Metaverse, or the Internet of Things, are key tools for the optimization of port p...

With the aim of obtaining the financial efficiency of the system as a whole and of its Port Authorities, a DEA-Bootstrapping model study has been performed to determine the overall performance, a methodology used mainly to obtain terminal efficiencies and applied to the port system in this article. Economic inputs have been selected, such as total...

The Blue Economy is a relatively new concept. In 2010, Günter Pauli coined this term to refer to an economic development where a waste is raw material for a process, using the cycles of the natural world as an example. Currently, the Blue Economy is a much more broad and transversal concept and is strongly related to maritime economic sectors, from...

We are currently seeing how new marine fuels are being introduced, such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, batteries, etc., for the propulsion of the world fleet with the aim of complying with the increasing IMO emissions regulations. The frenetic effort made by shipping companies to decarbon...

The objectives set in the 2030 agenda gravitate towards the concept of sustainability, a concept that is closely related to the efficiency of port operations. As a direct derivative of the search for more efficient logistics and port operations, a disruption of new technologies, associated with the term ‘Smart’, is making its way with a large range...

World trade has been modified by a new scenario in which the world is more globalized. These globalization processes have relied on logistics to be able to offer better door-to-door services. In Spain, this trend has a direct impact on ports, so that the trend is towards Ports 4.0. For this reason, Puertos del Estado has launched the Ports 4.0 proj...

The global changes that are currently taking place and which are driven by new forms of communication, behaviours, innovative technologies, etc., mean that ports have to be aware of or take into account these new trends. They have and must actively participate in this global change and become the leaders of the transformation. The main objective of...

The main objective of this article is to develop a methodology to detect, assess and prevent biosecurity-related risks. Currently, the main risk found in our daily life is COVID-19, which has triggered a serious global pandemic. As a result, economic and social activity has suffered a decline in its development and evolution compared to previous ye...

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical predictive model for LNG shipping routes selection process. Strategic decisions about shipping costs could be improved if a deeper knowledge about products economic value is provided. Developments made on the extraction and industrial processes related to this fossil fuel are driving the natural...

Modern ports tend to focus on freight transport and cruise traffic. The fishing sector is often the forgotten sector in terms of sustainability and port planning, despite the fact that fishing is a sector of great importance and interest; though it is currently obsolete in many respects. Literature on sustainability and green ports in the context o...

In recent decades, the Spanish port system has been investing in the development of infrastructures aimed at attracting the cruise market. For this reason, this paper analyses, using a methodology based on data envelopment analysis (DEA), the efficiency of the Spanish port system for the cruise market. Most of the port authorities want to attract a...

Environmental concerns have become important in the shipbuilding industry. The concept of the Blue Economy was linked to a new model of economic development based on regeneration, where the production of waste is seen as the possibility of creating a new activity, product, and employment. Nowadays, when we talk about the Blue Economy, it is from a...

This paper introduces the concept of R4 (road-rail-ro-ro), a concept increasingly used in transport and logistics research circles that defines the modern concept of the transport chain as it passes through the intermodal use of rail, road, and ship via ro-ro. The integration of the new rail-road freight services into the reference supply model all...

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide, with profound economic, environmental, and social implications. Fears about the economic situation have called attention to freight transportation performance as a derivative economic development demand. It is critical to economic growth, especially in industrialized countries with a strong positiv...

The business methodology presented in this article reflects a complete methodological analysis for the evaluation of the situation or starting point of a company, or in this case a railway logistics platform, and the actions and strategies that must be followed to achieve the proposed objectives. It is carried out by a previous panel of experts to...

Pavements play an essential role in the handling of cargo in port areas. This led the Spanish State Ports Authority, together with the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), to embark on an initiative these past ten years to improve pavements in Spanish ports. Part of the doctorate program at UPM on port pavement maintenance is being developed into...

The Spanish port system is subjected to a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-Bootstrapping analysis of its operational and financial efficiency to be compared to two other scenarios. One of these presents a port cluster based on the grouping of ports because of their proximity, and the second scenario proposes a port cluster based on seafronts. The an...

La metodología empresarial que se presenta en este artículo refleja un análisis metodológico completo para la evaluación de la situación o punto de partida de una empresa, o en este caso una plataforma logística ferroviaria; y las actuaciones y estrategias que se deben seguir para lograr los objetivos propuestos. Se realiza mediante un panel de exp...

The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by a high level of digitalization of systems and processes. This revolution has reached the Spanish ports. They have been investing for years in the implementation of new technologies, aimed at promoting sustainability and environmental quality, as well as seeking a more efficient and orderly logist...

In the specific case of maritime transport, one of the most notable examples of digitalization is smart ports. Their positive impact on the supply chain is enabling processes to be optimized through smarter production. In the case of Spain, the Spanish public entity Puertos del Estado (Puertos del Estado is a public business entity dependent on the...

Actualmente, nos encontramos inmersos en la cuarta revolución industrial o industria 4.0. Los puertos están viviendo un proceso de digitalización, similar al de otros sectores industriales y económicos. El objetivo es la automatización para hacer más eficiente y predictiva la cadena de suministro, persiguiendo también la intermodalidad y desarrolla...

La industria en general y los puertos en particular están derivando hacia procesos 4.0. El uso de nuevas tecnologías y pautas de mercado son las herramientas principales para el éxito de estos procesos. Los retos actuales del sector portuario pasan por desarrollar puertos Smart cuyas características principales se definen por la digitalización y la...

Industry in general and ports in particular are moving towards 4.0 processes. The use of new technologies and new market patterns are the main tools for the success of these processes. The current challenges of the port sector are to develop Smart ports whose main characteristics are defined by digitalization and synchro-modality. Only they allow d...

Nowadays, the denomination of “smart” is associated with several production and management devices and to logistics and distribution, too. Thus, this qualification is used in different application fields. All of them are different and diverse, but the most important common characteristics of these devices or Smart Systems are based on their novel a...

The revenue of a ship company, a terminal, a port and even the whole logistic chain largely depends on the performance of (un)loading operations inside port areas. However, they are conditioned by met-ocean agents that exert stresses on fixed structures, berthed ships and mooring systems that can affect the comfort, productivity and safety of the o...

Introducción: El sector del transporte marítimo se ha caracterizado por un comportamiento cooperativo, a través de una colaboración e integración vertical y horizontal, en el cual las navieras se presentan como los principales actores en el escenario de concentración marítima. Optando por desarrollar una estrategia de alianzas que les permiten bene...

El sistema portuario español es sumamente complejo y admite el estudio desde numerosos puntos de vista En este artículo se estudian los puertos según su actividad y sus características externas para la clasificación en agrupaciones. Para ello se han utilizado indicadores que reflejan la actividad portuaria y se han aplicado sobre las 28 Autoridades...

Los problemas de congestión en los principales corredores europeos como consecuencia de la globalización de la economía provocaron la necesidad de acometer medidas y desarrollar políticas para evitar las externalidades generadas por tal situación. Así, la Unión Europea promovió el Short Sea Shipping como una alternativa, si bien se observó que esta...

Los puertos son impulsores, pero a la vez están inmersos en los procesos de globalización de las sociedades. Es por ello que no son ajenos a la potencialidad de las metodologías de minería de datos, las cuales intentan descubrir patrones en grandes volúmenes de conjuntos de datos como los que se manejan en el ámbito portuario: La minería de datos e...

La estiba en los puertos españoles se caracteriza por ser un sector que se rige por una legislación específica, ajena a la general de otros sectores. La conflictividad laboral surgida a raíz de la Sentencia del Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea de 11 de diciembre de 2014 y el posterior Real Decreto-ley 8/2017, de 12 de mayo, por el que se mo...

In the current economic, social and political environment, society demands a greater variety of outcomes from the public logistics sector, such as efficiency, efficiency of managed resources, greater transparency and business performance. All of them are an indispensable counterpart for its recognition and support. In case of port planning and mana...

Risk assessment of critical infrastructures is an important topic, but the available methodologies do not enable the proper scoring of the risks to commercial port infrastructures, which is vital to formulating effective and realistic security plans. Developing a comprehensive risk assessment methodology for commercial ports is a long-term project....

Many variables are included in planning and management of port terminals. They can be economic, social, environmental and institutional. Agent needs to know relationship between these variables to modify planning conditions. Use of Bayesian Networks allows for classifying, predicting and diagnosing these variables. Bayesian Networks allow for estim...

This article classifies Spanish ports using a number of indicators that characterize the port activity. These indicators are treated with statistical analysis tools. Cluster analysis has been chosen to perform groupings among the selected ports. A methodology that covers all phases of research: environment, characterization, data source, cluster an...

The ports are the main node in the supply chain and freight transportation. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 marked a turning point in global security. Following this event, and from then on, there is a widespread fear of an attack on commercial ports. The development of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code of th...

The decision of where to locate a dry port requires the analysis of the whole logistics supply chain, with the objective of transferring the largest volume of goods possible from road to more energy efficient means of transport, like rail or Short Sea Shipping, that are less harmful to the environment. However, such decision ought to cope also with...

The decision of where to locate a dry port requires the analysis of the whole logistics supply chain, with the objective of transferring the largest volume of goods possible from road to more energy efficient means of transport, like rail or Short Sea Shipping, that are less harmful to the environment. However, such decision ought to cope also with...

The global economic structure, with its decentralized production and the consequent increase in freight traffic all over the world, creates considerable problems and challenges for the freight transport sector. This situation has led shipping to become the most suitable and cheapest way to transport goods. Thus, ports are configured as nodes with c...

This research discusses the challenges involved in the treatment of uncertainties in the existence of free berths during the arrival of cruise ships at seaports. Pursuing this goal, a three-step methodology is adopted: 1) Identifying risk sources and critical risk variables and how they are related; 2) Fitting the Probability Distribution Functions...

A map of the logistic groups in the Republic of Panama and complementary maps of the distribution of the population density, GDP density, the economic activity ‘transport, storage and communications’, and the primary and secondary road network are presented. The clusters of territorial groups on each map were analyzed and created using the ‘decisio...

Terminals rely on optimization tools to determine merchandise location, quay occupation, or vehicle trajectories to minimize the movements and time dedicated to every task. However, operations are developed in an environment that induces variability to the theoretical model used to scheduleand control the operations. Given thecomplexity of the port...

The global economic structure, with its decentralized production and the consequent increase in freight traffic all over the world, creates considerable problems and challenges for the freight transport sector. This situation has led shipping to become the most suitable and cheapest way to transport goods. Thus, ports are configured as nodes with c...

Not all the potential of Dry Ports is used because there is no planning methodology to help decision-making. The aim of this research is to provide a decision-making methodology based on the use of DELPHI methodology and Geographic Information Systems. Firstly, all the factors influencing the choice of Dry Ports are compiled and the weightings of e...

Los puertos secos se conciben como solución a la situación de creciente congestión de las rutas y escasez de espacios libres en las instalaciones marítimas, así como para reducir el importante impacto medioambiental de los puertos marítimos. Además, los puertos secos se presentan también como una oportunidad para fortalecer las soluciones intermoda...

Los Puertos Secos nacen para favorecer la utilización de cada modo de transporte en los segmentos en que resultan más competitivos y para resolver los problemas de congestión, escasez de espacios libres e impacto ambiental de los puertos marítimos. Representan, por tanto, una oportunidad para aumentar la eficiencia tanto de los nodos portuarios com...

Who would have foreseen 40 years ago the launching of an 18 000 TEU container ship? The unprecedented growth of such ships presents an increasing challenge for port infrastructure planners. The paper concludes that during the next 20 years, the growth of container ships will depend on factors related to supply and demand, and to external factors. T...

Terminals rely on optimization tools used on merchandise location, quay occupation or vehicle trajectories, in order to minimize the movements together with the time dedicated to every task. However, operations are developed into an environment that induces variability to the theoretical model used to schedule and control the operations. Given the...

La dificultad para el establecimiento de pautas de dimensionamiento de Plataformas Logísti-cas y, en especial, de las Zonas de Actividades Logísticas (ZAL), recae en la heterogeneidad del desarrollo de este tipo de nodos de transporte a nivel internacional. Bajo la denominación genérica de Plataformas Logísticas han surgido multitud de iniciativas...

Not all of Dry Ports potential is used because there is no planning methodology to help decision-making. The aim of this research is to gather all the factors influencing the choice of location of Dry Ports and set the weighting of each factor using the DELPHI methodology. The results give greater importance to the aspects considered in the classic...

— Dry Ports are designed as a solution to increasing road congestion, lack of open spaces in port installations and the significant environmental impact of seaports, due to the complexity of the transport sector and the increased volume of transported goods. In addition, Dry Ports are also presented as an opportunity to strengthen intermodal soluti...

Ports play a role in the development of trade and in general for the country’s competi- tiveness, especially in the context of globalization of the last decades. Specifically in the port sector , international technological advancement has resulted in a reduction in the costs of trade between large distances. The result of these changes has been th...

In a ship or floating structure operation the agents that contribute to the systems behaviour are not only those derived from fluid-structure interaction, but also the ones linked to mooring-control line set-up evolution and human interaction. Therefore, the analysis of such systems is affected by boundary conditions that change during a complete o...

The International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) is a biennial conference held under the auspices of the Coastal Engineering Research Council of the COPRI (Coasts, Oceans, Ports, Rivers Institute) of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Proceedings of the ICCE are provided here, with papers covering a wide range of topics includin...

The International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) is a biennial conference held under the auspices of the Coastal Engineering Research Council of the COPRI (Coasts, Oceans, Ports, Rivers Institute) of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Proceedings of the ICCE are provided here, with papers covering a wide range of topics includin...

The International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE) is a biennial conference held under the auspices of the Coastal Engineering Research Council of the COPRI (Coasts, Oceans, Ports, Rivers Institute) of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Proceedings of the ICCE are provided here, with papers covering a wide range of topics includin...

Overtopping events may cause different failure modes depending on overtopped flow characteristics. Most of the studies about overtopping hazard analysis link the damages caused by the overtopping event to its mean overtopping discharge (q), which provides no information about overtopped flow characteristics or its spatial distribution. In this pape...

Maritime transport in Europe is of great importance for the cohesion and economic development of the European Union, but in turn, and mainly as a result of sulphur emissions, is a source of pollution, particularly in areas close to the coast that tend to accumulate the majority of the population. The European Commission has subsequently defined a s...

This paper presents the data analysis of the vibration induced by the propagation of waves caused by passing trains, metro and tram. These data are taken with an optical fiber accelerometer within the framework of the research project TRAVIESA (Transmisión de Vibraciones del ferrocarril urbano al entorno: Estrategias, Tecnologías y materiales para...

The article analyzes the main characteristics of bunkering services in ports. After presenting the business of bunkering and the different types of fuel and their prices, the article analyzes the consumption associated with the maritime navigation, the operation and its impact on the environment. Finally the main ports supply of fuel are studied.

The widespread use of management and operating ratios taken from international literature that do not conform to the reality of the Spanish port system makes it difficult to plan and manage the operation of Spanish container terminals. This is due to the lack of characterization of the physical parameters of the container terminals necessary for th...

The present article is a summary of the Doctoral Thesis "Methodology for the establishment of design parameters for container port terminals on the basis of maritime traffic records" presented by Nicoletta González Cancelas at the Civil Engineering - Transport Department of Madrid Polytechnic, under the direction of professor Alberto Camarero. The...

There has been a spectacular growth in sea container traffic over recent years which has led to considerable modifications in the form of terminals. Terminals have required change to meet these growing volumes of traffic and the new super container vessels built to promote economies of scale provided by maritime transportation.

This paper describes a research project conducted at Madrid Polytechnic University with the objective of refining the negative binomial accident prediction models that had been developed previously for two-lane rural roads in Spain. Cumulative scaled residuals plots were used to identify the value ranges of annual average daily traffic (AADT) where...

This paper describes a research project conducted at Madrid Polytechnic University with the objective of refining the negative binomial accident prediction models that had been developed previously for two-lane rural roads in Spain. Cumulative scaled residuals plots were used to identify the value ranges of annual average daily traffic (AADT) where...

Road congestion and the increasing rise in mobility, particularly associated with road transport, makes it necessary to promote transport policies which contribute to a more balanced growth of different modes of transport. In this line programmes are currently underway to promote short sea shipping as a transport alternative. A series of actions ha...