PhD Defence: Panagiotis Ypsilantis
In his dissertation ‘The Design, Planning and Execution of Sustainable Intermodal Port-hinterland Transport Networks’ ERIM’s Panagiotis Ypsilantis analyses the port-hinterland transportation process and develops models that support the design, planning and execution of port-hinterland transportation networks with high capacity modes such as barges and trains.
Panagiotis defended his dissertation in the Senate Hall at Erasmus University Rotterdam on Thursday, 1 December 2016 at 13:30. His supervisor was Leo Kroon, but to our deepest regrets he passed away on September 14th. Prof. Rob Zuidwijk took over the role of supervisor. Other members of the Doctoral Committee were Prof. Albert Veenstra (Technical University Eindhoven), Prof. Rommert Dekker (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Prof. Rene de Koster (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Dr Jan van Dalen (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Prof. Lori Tavassy (Technical University Delft), and Prof. Luce Brotcorne (Inria)
About Panagiotis Ypsilantis
Panagiotis Ypsilantis was born on April 30, 1984 in Athens, Greece. In 2008 he received his Mechanical and Industrial Engineering diploma from Aristotle’s University of Thessaloniki in Greece. In 2010 he received his M.Sc. Degree in Econometrics and Management science, with a specialization in Operations Research and Quantitative Logistics, from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 2011, Panagiotis started his Ph.D. program at the Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) to work on network design modeling on intermodal freight transportation systems. His research was part of the ULTIMATE project which was funded by DINALOG. During this period he worked for the Technology and Operations Management department of Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). He lectured courses both in bachelor and master levels. His main research interests are in Operations Research applications in freight transportation, maritime industry, revenue management and customer segmentation. Panagiotis has presented his research at various international conferences, such as TRISTAN, TSL Workshop, IFORS, INFORMS, POMS, OR, and LOGMS. Currently, Panagiotis is a Senior Data Analytics Consultant at Ernst and Young (EY).
Thesis Abstract
Globalization has led to a tremendous growth of international trade over the last century amounting to $18.8 trillion in 2014. Approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo is transported in shipping containers. The dominant mode in container transportation is maritime, in which containers are transported from a seaport to another seaport around the globe. Import containers are discharged in seaport container terminals and are destined to inland locations, a reverse process happens for export containers. The inland terminals can be close or far away from the seaport terminals where the containers were discharged. The container transport between the seaport and the inland locations is called port-hinterland transportation. Given the specific physical characteristics and infrastructure of each area this part of the transportation chain can be performed via trucks, trains or river vessels. The sequential use of multiple transport modes in port-hinterland transport is called combined transport. The main aim of this study is to analyze the port-hinterland transportation process and to develop models that support the design, planning and execution of port-hinterland transportation networks with high capacity modes such as barges and trains.
Photos: Chris Gorzeman / Capital Images
