Cargo Movement Research Articles

Challenges Faced by Freight Forwarders in their Operations in Chennai City, Tamil Nadu

Logistics is the movement of goods from one place to other.Freight forwarders play a major role in logistics operations.The main objective of the freight forwarders is to dispatch the shipments via carriers. Forwarder has the ability to arrange cargo movement from one destination to another within a short limit of time.It is tough for a company to ship goods at a normal price without a forwarder. Forwarders are having a long-term relationship with carriers and obtain good deals in the least possible time. The forwarding operations and company strategy differ from one company to another, by providing different value-added services. Customer satisfaction plays an important role in business. The present study aimed to find out the challenges faced by freight forwarders in their operations. Due to various factors, they face challenges and that could be the reason for their failures. In some cases, due to hindrance, they may not be able to satisfy the customer needs. The major challenges faced are due to government policies and regulation (GST), importers or exporters, port authorities, warehousing of the goods, red tapism of insurance companies, customs clearance, liner companies, infrastructure problems etc. The study involves both primary and secondary data. A well-structured Questionnaire prepared to elicit the data from the freight forwarders. Sample size identified is 50 forwarders. The study is concluded by giving the ways to ways to overcome the challenges faced by the Freight Forwarders.

Assessment of operational performance of public sector funded infrastructure in Nigeria: the airports perspective

The study assessed the performance of public sector funded infrastructure in Nigeria, with a special focus on airports. It utilized secondary data obtained from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) covering the period 2004 to 2016. A simple regression analyses of the data were carried out using total number of employees as the predictor variable and the total aircraft movement, total passenger movement, and total cargo movement as the dependent variables. The results of the analyses show that the p values calculated were < 0.05 alpha value, implying existence of a statistical relationship among the dependent variables (aircraft movement, passenger throughput, and cargo throughput) and independent variable (number of employees). Furthermore, the time series graphs show fluctuations in growth of the outputs (passenger throughput, aircraft movement and cargo throughput) for the Nigerian air transport system at various periods. This study has shown that there is a need for the government and stakeholders to take immediate actions in tackling factors responsible for the decline and fluctuations in the air transport industry.

Investigation of coupled dynamics of a railway tank car and liquid cargo subject to a switch-passing maneuver

The movement of the liquid cargo within a partly filled tank car is known to impose additional slosh forces and moments that may adversely affect the dynamic responses of the vehicle. This study is aimed at analyzing the liquid cargo slosh in a partly filled tank car and its effects on vehicle responses during a switch-passing maneuver. A two-dimensional analytical liquid slosh model is formulated for the analyses of the liquid load shift in the roll plane, lateral slosh force, and roll moment through summation of first four antisymmetric modes of the liquid. The analytical slosh model is integrated to a 114 degrees-of-freedom multibody dynamic model of the railway tank car comprising nonlinear wheel–rail contact and contact pairs of the suspension system. The validity of the slosh model is illustrated by comparing the responses with those reported in other studies and those obtained from a nonlinear computational fluid dynamic model. The coupled fluid–vehicle model is subsequently used to study the effects of fluid slosh during switch-passing maneuvers on different response measures, namely roll motion of the tank car, lateral and vertical wheel–rail contact forces, and derailment ratio. The significance of the liquid cargo slosh in the partially filled state is demonstrated by comparing the responses with those of the car with equivalent rigid cargo. The results show that liquid sloshing within the partly filled car can lead to higher magnitudes of car body roll angle and thereby the unloading ratio compared to the conventional rigid cargo car. Switch-passing critical speeds are further identified for different fill ratios and switch geometries. For fill ratios below 80%, the switch-passing critical speeds of the partly filled car are substantially lower compared to those of the equivalent rigid cargo car. Neglecting the contributions due to dynamic slosh force and roll moment arising from a partially filled railway tank car may thus lead to underestimation of the critical speed in switch-passing maneuvers.

Теоретико-множинний підхід до моделювання структури систем доставки вантажів

The article presents the formalized description of the delivery system of bulk cargoes using the set-theory approach. The delivery system is considered as a set of interrelated and interconnected elements of transport systems, which actually provide the physical movement of cargo, and participants of transport services market, which ensure the interconnection and functioning of the elements of transport systems. Selected and included in the delivery system, the elements of transport system form a set – technical subsystem of the delivery system. Bulk cargoes are transported more often by maritime transport with the involvement of road and/or rail transports as related ones, providing the carriage of cargoes to the port of loading (from the point of departure) and from the port of discharging to the point of destination. The transport systems of the mentioned above modes of transport are presented as sets of corresponding vehicles, infrastructure facilities and transport communications. The formalized descriptions of their interrelations are given. The participants of the transport services market, which initiate, conduct and ensure the movement of cargo by the elements of transport system, are presented as sets of carriers, cargoes handling companies, companies, providing the forwarding services and especially for maritime services – ships agency services in ports and ship brokering. The formalized descriptions of the relationships of participants of transport services market are given, according to the practice of transporting the bulk cargoes. The participants of transport services market, involved to the delivery system, form the information-supporting subsystem of the cargo delivery system and considered in the paper to be a particular set. The cargo delivery system itself is presented as a newly formed set, formed as a union of sets of elements of the technical and information-supporting subsystems. The presented approach is characterized by the versatility of use for formulating and solving the problems of theoretical and practical nature, related to the organization and functioning of cargo delivery systems.

MODELLING TRAVELLER’S GROUND ACCESS MODE CHOICE OF DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

With increased demand for air travel, airports have become economic engines of the regional development that connect aviation systems with other modes of transportation facilitating the movement of people and cargo. Originating air passengers account for the majority of passenger trips to and from an airport and have different ground access needs. Since the air transportation is interrelated to ground transportation, studying ground access mode choice of airport users is a crucial part of airport management and system planning. The purpose of this study is to identify Dubai International Airport (DXB) ground access mode characteristics and users located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has not been studied previously. Although there are many different modes of transportation serving the airport, yet personal vehicles are the main mode used to arrive to the airport. Binary logistic regression models are developed to evaluate access mode choice for originating air travelers focusing on the mix between private vehicle and public transportation system (taxi, limousine, bus network, and Dubai metro) using data collected specifically for this study. A total of 1012 air travelers were interviewed and completed the questionnaire in December 2014. Models result showed that access mode choice is significantly affected by different socio-economic characteristics of travelers including income, nationality, household size, vehicle ownership; and different trip characteristics that include number of travelers and how often air travelers use public ransportation in their community.

Системний підхід до аналізу процесів переміщення вантажів підйомним краном

The necessity of a systematic approach to the analysis of processes of movement of cargoes with a crane, which also takes into account the change in the characteristics of this process in time due to changes in the moment of inertia of the electric drive system and the moment of loading during the movement of the load, and the effect of longitudinal oscillations that arise in the cable to which suspended cargo. It has been shown that ignoring these peculiarities of the process of moving cargoes with a crane can lead to the destruction of both cargoes and the areas on which these cargoes are installed due to the occurrence of their shock collateral caused by the occurrence of longitudinal oscillations in the cable to which the cargo is suspended. Using the structure of ordinary differential equations with variable time parameters, which connects the time drive traction motor with the load moment and the present moment of inertia of the electric system and the structure of the differential equation in partial derivatives, which describes the process of longitudinal oscillations in the rope caused by the influence of mass cargo weight and interval between cable drum winder and its point of suspension load, the synthesis system moves through mathematical models of cargo crane, which takes into account the change in the parameters of the mathematical model of the process over time due to changes in the reduced moment of inertia of the electric system and moment load and the effect of longitudinal vibrations arising in the rope, which hung load. The algorithm of practical realization of the synthesized system mathematical model of the process of cargo movement by a lifting crane is suggested, which allows to carry out step by step evaluation of this process in its rate of flow.

A study of criteria for air cargo terminal classification model

For global air cargo movement from airport to airport, the air cargo terminal is a key success factor of airlines and air cargo transport. This study is aimed to explore important criteria at air cargo terminals on the new integration of relevant and reviewed variables from academic researches and International Air Transport Association's regulated standards. To examine variables, the investigation of criteria significance is based on opinion and endorsed by 57 air cargo terminal operators covering 474 terminals around the world. Thereafter, the methodology is to evaluate the endorsed criteria and employs principal component analysis for criteria reduction onto correlation and similarity conditions by factor loading scores above 0.6. The remaining criteria are finally re-validated by aviation experts executed into nine main criteria with 44 sub-criteria. Moreover, the finding of air cargo terminal classification model is tested to cluster air cargo terminals in Thailand's major airports with the results of three classifications. Also, guidelines with factor loading scores from significant criteria are developed for air cargo industry for business investment and decision making purposes.

A study of criteria for air cargo terminal classification model

For global air cargo movement from airport to airport, the air cargo terminal is a key success factor of airlines and air cargo transport. This study is aimed to explore important criteria at air cargo terminals on the new integration of relevant and reviewed variables from academic researches and International Air Transport Association's regulated standards. To examine variables, the investigation of criteria significance is based on opinion and endorsed by 57 air cargo terminal operators covering 474 terminals around the world. Thereafter, the methodology is to evaluate the endorsed criteria and employs principal component analysis for criteria reduction onto correlation and similarity conditions by factor loading scores above 0.6. The remaining criteria are finally re-validated by aviation experts executed into nine main criteria with 44 sub-criteria. Moreover, the finding of air cargo terminal classification model is tested to cluster air cargo terminals in Thailand's major airports with the results of three classifications. Also, guidelines with factor loading scores from significant criteria are developed for air cargo industry for business investment and decision making purposes.

The cargo movement model by the screw conveyor surfaces with the rotating casing

The cargo movement model by the screw conveyor surfaces with the rotating casing

Development plans for Baltic short sea shipping promotion centers

Short sea shipping is the movement of cargo and passengers by sea between ports located in Europe or between these ports and ports located in non-European countries that have a coastline in closed seas bordering Europe. Short sea shipping includes domestic and international sea transport. It includes feeder services along the coast, to and from islands, rivers and lakes. The aim of this study was to create a functional and feasible development plan for Short Sea Shipping Promotion Centers (SPCs). There were 5 surveys made for SPCs located in Baltic Sea region (from Germany, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania and Poland) to obtain information on the scope and type of SPC's activities. There is a great potential for the development of SPC in Europe. Although, there are some barriers to overcome like formalities, customs documentation etc. The diverse legal forms of the SPC in individual countries also make it difficult to undertake integrated activities. The topic raised in the article is in line with current plans for the development of inland waterway transport in Poland and coincides with the Assumptions for development of inland waterways in Poland for 2016–2020 with 2030 perspective. The aim of the article was to consolidate the structures and tasks of all SPCs studied and to create a joint 6 point development plan for these centers in order to fully use their potential.

Computing experiment for unloading dumper truck at a sloping pad

The results of a computational experiment on unloading a dump truck are described. The experiment was carried out on the mathematical model of a car built on the basis of Lagrange’s equations. Before the movement (unloading) of cargo, the lifting of the platform is considered as a quasi-static process. From the equations of the equilibrium of the car and geometric relationships, analytical expressions are derived for calculating the force interaction between the platform and the frame. When the cargo moves as a monolithic block, the mathematical model is represented in the form of a system of differential equations. After the adoption of a number of assumptions, its solution was substantially simplified. An algorithm for solving the problem is proposed that implements the method of incremental change of parameters. The results of calculation of forces in hydraulic cylinders during unloading of BelAZ mining dump truck are given.

ANALISIS DAMPAK DELAY YANG TERJADI PADA RUNWAY, APRON DAN RUANG UDARA TERHADAP OPERASIONAL PESAWAT (STUDI KASUS: BANDARA INTERNASIONAL JUANDA)

The Air transport demand still increasing continuously both of number passengers, cargo and aircraft movements will have a direct impact on the capacity of the airport. Juanda International Airport has one runway that serves about 35-40 aircraft per hour. The number of aircraft movements cause the problem of delay and wasting fuel. Delay can reduced the productivity airport services and airlines. This goal of this paper is to analyze the airport capacity, delay and effect of delay on the aircraft's fuel consumption. Calculations using simulation software arena with arrivals and departure modelling. The results showed that in the calculation of the existing runway capacity as much as 44 scheduled aircraft movements during peak hours there are only 33 aircraft for 1 hour with an average delay of 29 minutes. Simulations using the software arena, delay for arrival varied between 0.6 minutes to 4.2 minutes and delay for departure varied between 0.8 minutes to 19 minutes. Aircraft fuel consumption A320 for the queue 1 to 4 of aircraft varied between 67.56 lb to 270.26 lb. While fuel consumption B737-500 for the queue 1 to 4 of aircraft varied between 131.31 lb to 525.26 lb

Design and Operation of Autonomous Freight Transportation Systems

The demand for freight transportation is on the rise as a result of population growth, increase in the need for energy, and the expansion of global trade. Existing infrastructure for freight transportation seems inadequate for future growth, and new facilities are required to cover the deficiencies in cargo movement. Underground Freight Transportation (UFT) is a new mode of transportation that uses the space below the ground to carry cargo within individual vehicles in tubes and pipelines. Different propulsion systems have been used for freight pipeline systems. The goal of this research is to find the proper propulsion system for the UFT system. In addition, this research aims at finding the minimum power of the propulsion system and energy consumption for the UFT system operation. Two short-haul and long-haul UFT systems with different load sizes are used to test and apply the results of this research. The findings of this research suggest that because of its light weight and short thickness, a Linear Induction Motor (LIM) is the most appropriate propulsion system for UFT. Besides, this research estimates that the energy consumption and power requirement of a LIM system is low. The energy consumption of LIM system is calculated as a function of UFT system operating speed. Therefore, the results of this research can be applied in the design, operation and cost estimating of other UFT systems.

Robust goal programming for multi-objective optimization of data-driven problems: A use case for the United States transportation command's liner rate setting problem

Robust goal programming (RGP) is a recently developed, powerful new optimization modeling technique that conjoins two widely accepted operations research disciplines: robust optimization (RO) and goal programming (GP). In lieu of applying a probability distribution over possible outcomes, an approach considered by stochastic programming, RO utilizes uncertainty sets to account for data uncertainty. This characteristic of RO is an important attribute because identifying such a probability distribution is challenging, at best. Given this RO context, RGP additionally incorporates GP, traditionally a deterministic procedure, to address optimization problems having multiple objectives. As such, RGP has potential to help address a wide array of data-driven applications, ranging from financial management to engineering design.As a motivating use case for the utility of an RGP approach, this paper demonstrates the applicability of RGP by way of the data-driven United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) liner rate setting problem. USTRANSCOM is responsible for the technical direction and supervision of over $7 billion [1] of annual passenger, cargo, mobility, and personal property movements in support of the Department of Defense (DoD). Transporting people and material with both organic and contracted assets, USTRANSCOM supports DoD organizations and agencies on a reimbursable basis, annually setting and charging rates for air and liner (i.e., sea) transport for their customers and reimbursing the transportation providers accordingly. The Cost Recovery Branch within TCJ8, the Financial Management and Program Analysis staff organization for USTRANSCOM, annually sets liner shipping rates specific to each combination of origin, destination, commodity type, booking terms, and container size for the upcoming fiscal year (FY). As a government entity, USTRANSCOM seeks to neither make a profit nor operate at a loss in any given FY. The current rate setting methodology assumes existing data is deterministic, resulting in process inaccuracies that contribute to unexpected surpluses or deficits each FY. Moreover, the current method fails to consider an additional USTRANSCOM objective: meeting customer's expectations that liner rates will change annually in accordance with industry-specific inflation. Considering the different goals and inherent parametric variance, the use case herein incorporates a decision maker's risk preference regarding parametric variability via a priori analysis to inform RGP techniques and improve the USTRANSCOM liner rate setting process.

EFFICIENCY CRITERIA OF TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS SYSTEMS

For the English full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version).ABSTRACT Reducing costs in material flow of goods as a result of optimization of parameters of cargo movement in automotive transport and logistics systems requires the development of a mathematical apparatus, adapted to the task. Its most complete solution can be obtained if the problem is considered as multi-criteria. The article presents a formalized structure of criteria, allowing to optimize the interaction of objects of the logistics infrastructure of transport and warehouse services and freight road transportation. The choice of criteria for efficiency of the transport and logistics system (TLS) is based on effective indicators, which in turn are determined taking into account the indicators of the use of the means of production in certain conditions of the operating environment. The criteria system considered in the article is a decomposition of the hierarchy of TLS criteria that determine the organization of freight road transportation (FRT) and functioning of transport and storage complexes (TSC). The choice of performance criteria is based on the effective indicators of FRT and TSC, which in turn take into account the indicators of the use of means of production in the conditions of the environment of operation. Integration of FRT and TSC criteria into a single structure allows to solve multiple tasks. Keywords: transport and logistics system, road freight transportation, transport and warehouse complex, management, efficiency criteria, performance indicators, operating environment, indicators of the use of means of production.

Memory effects and Lévy walk dynamics in intracellular transport of cargoes

We demonstrate the phenomenon of cumulative inertia in intracellular transport involving multiple motor proteins in human epithelial cells by measuring the empirical survival probability of cargoes on the microtubule and their detachment rates. We found the longer a cargo moves along a microtubule, the less likely it detaches from it. As a result, the movement of cargoes is non-Markovian and involves a memory. We observe memory effects on the scale of up to 2 seconds. We provide a theoretical link between the measured detachment rate and the super-diffusive Levy walk-like cargo movement.

The cryo-EM structure of intraflagellar transport trains reveals how dynein is inactivated to ensure unidirectional anterograde movement in cilia

Movement of cargos along microtubules plays key roles in diverse cellular processes, from signalling to mitosis. In cilia, rapid movement of ciliary components along the microtubules to and from the assembly site is essential for the assembly and disassembly of the structure itself1. This bidirectional transport, known as intraflagellar transport (IFT)2, is driven by the anterograde motor kinesin-23 and the retrograde motor dynein-1b (dynein-2 in mammals)4,5. However, to drive retrograde transport, dynein-1b must first be delivered to the ciliary tip by anterograde IFT6. Although, the presence of opposing motors in bidirectional transport processes often leads to periodic stalling and slowing of cargos7, IFT is highly processive1,2,8. Using cryo-electron tomography, we show that a tug-of-war between kinesin-2 and dynein-1b is prevented by loading dynein-1b onto anterograde IFT trains in an autoinhibited form and by positioning it away from the microtubule track to prevent binding. Once at the ciliary tip, dynein-1b must transition into an active form and engage microtubules to power retrograde trains. These findings provide a striking example of how coordinated structural changes mediate the behaviour of complex cellular machinery.

Barrier Lyapunov function-based robust flight control for the ultra-low altitude airdrop under airflow disturbances

This paper investigates the anti-disturbance constrained trajectory flight control for the ultra-low altitude airdrop under airflow disturbances, by innovatively integrating the finite time convergent high-order sliding mode observer and barrier Lyapunov function-based back-stepping technique. The dynamics of transport aircraft during the airdrop are established based on the fixed-wing aircraft's 6 DOF nonlinear model and are transformed into the affine nonlinear form for the convenient control design. These dynamics include the complex influence of the flow disturbances, the ground effect, the consecutive movement and abrupt extraction of the heavy cargo. Then, the flight controller is divided into several cascade subsystems via back-stepping technique. The items reflect the disturbances during the drop in each subsystem, as well as the items which are independent of the predefined virtual control variables, are taken as components of the “lumped disturbances” which are estimated and compensated by the specially designed finite time convergent high order sliding mode observer. On this basis, a barrier Lyapunov function-based back-stepping flight controller is proposed for the robust and safe flight control of the ultra-low altitude airdrop. And the closed-loop stability is discussed via the Lyapunov stability theorem. Simulation comparisons are conducted to verify the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed airdrop flight control method.

Green initiatives for sustainable airport services

Air transport is ever expanding and ever impacting our global environment. It is a carbon-driven, carbon-intensive industry. Air travel is often the only realistic option for the movement of both people and cargo in the current lifestyles and demands bound by time constraints. Aviation transportation is vital for Bahrain’s survival and daily operations. Therefore, an eco-friendly infrastructure offers viable options for implementing green technology. A significant portion of the emissions are from ground transportation that encompasses moving airport personnel, cabin crews and passengers between terminals and aircraft carriers. In addition, there is all the freight and cargo movement, food and fuel services, personal baggage and in-flight catering and waste servicing. This paper identifies six module areas that have the potential for ‘greening’ airports for a sustainable future. Then two module areas will be discussed in greater depth using the case study approach. Eco-friendly best practices can include on-site alternative energy–powered vehicles to solar energy–powered operations to within-terminal recycling initiatives as well as aircraft organic separation that are practical and sustainable. The main areas of sustainable activities and facilities services will be highlighted with case studies to emphasise various applications around the globe at international airports.

Concepts of green port operations – one kind of self-diagnosis method to the port of Santos - Brazil

This paper aims to evaluate the sustainable performance within the concept of Green Port in the logistics operations. Through literature review about green port implementation in different ports worldwide, as well as the studies of various technologies and methods that aim to make the port environment more sustainable, this study will go through different levels, from the shipping loading and unloading, passing through all sectors and actors related to the movement of cargo inside the port, which may on the sustainable performance of the environment, to the inland transportation. The study focus on the reduction of emissions of pollutant gases such as sulfur oxides (Sox), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and Carbon dioxide (CO2). The work addresses the possible innovations in the logistics operations inherent in the transportation, storage, and handling of goods, involving the analysis, types, and operations of the resources used in the port management of the largest port in Brazil, Port of Santos.