Samenvatting

A consortium of engineering firms from the Netherlands and Indonesia, is developing a new port on the Indonesian island of Ambon commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Maluku Government. The design of this port is based on the market study conducted by the Port of Rotterdam. The Port of Rotterdam provided three different scenarios based on a 3%, 6% and 8% growth in GDP. The consortium designed a port based on a 6% growth in GDP, called the “optimistic scenario”. However, the government of Maluku indicated that they prefer a port development based on an 8% growth in GDP, called the ‘boldly optimistic’ scenario.
This thesis functions as the feasibility study for the expansion of the port, in order to fit the 8% growth in GDP, this scenario is called the “boldly optimistic” scenario. And to verify the recommendations provided by the Port of Rotterdam regarding the surface area requirements. To do so, the following research question is used: “What is the most feasible location for the expansion of the new Ambon port in order to handle the trade capacities as predicted for the ‘boldly optimistic’ scenario from the market positioning study conducted by the Port of Rotterdam?”. The location is not only selected based on port recommendations, but also on the physical characteristics present on the location.
In order to answer the research question, several methods of research are used. A field survey is conducted on the project location in the north eastern parts of the Indonesian island of Ambon. As well as literature study related to the new Ambon port project and port development in general. First the basis of design was created by summarizing the requirements from all involved stakeholders. Then using this data, the project location was analysed in order to create several different expansion variants. By using a multi-criteria analyses, an expansion to the south, southwest and west was selected as the most feasible variant. As a follow up, the area requirements based on the predicted cargo quantities where verified. Concluding that the original area requirements are over dimensioned, and can be further reduced by upgrading the container cargo handling equipment and liquid bulk storage. This reduction is so severe that by upgrading the container handling equipment, an expansion of container storage is no longer required to reach the capacity predicted in the ‘boldly optimistic’ scenario.
Based on these conclusions, it is recommended to conduct a cost-benefit analyses to determine the cost differences between upgrading the port and the costs of land acquisitioning. It is also recommended to conduct a new market positioning study or to verify the current market positioning study to ensure the numbers predicted and recommended are accurate enough to further design the new Ambon port.