Cost functions in freight transport models

Freight transport models are used to estimate the expected impact of policy measures and are a necessary input for the justification of infrastructure investments. Seaport hinterland models can be used to forecast future hinterland traffic and modal split development. For the impact assessment, most freight transport models use a generalized cost approach for the purchasers' costs which amount the operators' costs passed on to the users of transport services and the actual users' costs (e.g. time costs). At present, no comprehensive model exists for the Port of Hamburg. Consequently, it is difficult to estimate the expected impacts of infrastructure measures for the Port of Hamburg's hinterland accessibility. The aim of this paper is to give an overview over the research field of freight transport modelling and to develop an approach for comparing the Port of Hamburg's hinterland connections taking into consideration different types of costs. Finally, the cost functions are applied to the use case "Port of Hamburg" on a macroscopic level.