ABSTRACT
The State of Bahia has one of the largest port complexes in Brazil, that consists of public ports and private use terminals. One of which is specialized with a cargo carrying capacity of about 530 thousand TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) per year. On the other hand, the container terminal at the port of Genoa, Italy, has a similar capacity but has been performing better than the Brazilian one. The present study evaluates the differences and similarities between these ports, in the context of engineering, environmental sustainability and some topics of the port regulatory framework that can influence productivity. Based on the arrival and service rates of the ships and their respective probability distributions, a mathematical model of queuing theory was developed that indicates the port occupation rate, the time and the average number of ships in the queue, in a process with which one can assess the environmental impact of these terminals.
