Comparative technical-economic evaluation of offshore container port systems

In line with the monotonic growth trend of the container industry, container ships and ports have grown along with technical development. While this growth has increased economic sustainability by reducing costs, it had a significant impact on ports both operationally and infrastructural. In this context, the offshore port systems are expected to be an innovative port system that facilitates the effective use of mega container ships by offering significant operational and structural advantages. In this study, the investment costs of the offshore container port system (OCPS) and conventional port structures are compared. The purpose of this study is to serve as a guide for authorities on whether OCPS is worth investing in, in terms of investment costs as a result of processing data. This article highlights the financial feasibility of an offshore port, which is currently seen as a remote option, but has nonetheless environmental financial advantages for certain locations and can allow countries with difficult nautical access to mega vessels to enter the global trade network. The data to be used in this research were obtained from similar projects and studies with a series of industry assumptions. Overall, these results indicate that offshore container port systems promise to compete with conventional ports in terms of initial investment costs, operating costs, and return time of the investment. Thus, OCPS can help to achieve a more sustainable container transportation network, by combining operational and structural advantages with efficiency in terms of investment costs