Cargo Owners Research Articles

Introduction of the Latest Railway Technology based on Intersectoral Cooperation

The article studies direct and external effects produced by the development of railway infrastructure facilities. Examples of intersectoral cooperation in the transport sector in Russian and international practices confirm that development of intersectoral production and transport interaction of business entities allows to radically accelerate scientific and technological progress in the railway industry, namely, to develop and introduce new models of railway rolling stock, new transportation technology, considering also regional features of the transportation market.The practical part considers the advantages of introduction of freight electric multiple-unit trains (FEMUT), identifying the main groups of cargo owners, for whom this type of rolling stock is intended. The results of calculations show possible reduction in running time and in specific consumption of electric power when introducing FEMUT. The calculated costs of self-propelled (motor) and trailer wagons of FEMUT are followed by the results of economic calculations of NPV of life cycle operation of FEMUT in comparison with a train with locomotive traction. To achieve the stated objectives of the research, the work uses methods and tools of technical comparison and of financial planning.

Choosing a servicing company’s strategy while interacting with freight owners at the road transport market

Purpose. To develop the methodology for choosing the strategies of freight forwarding companies in the situation of interaction with freight owners as customers of forwarding services. Methodology. The game-theoretical approach is used to formalize the conflict situation between a freight forwarding company and a cargo owner. A set of services proposed by forwarders is used as the base in order to represent possible strategies of a forwarder as the vector of probabilities that the respective services are provided for a client. The strategies of the cargo owner are represented as a binary variable that shows whether the client uses the provided services or not. The payoff function for a forwarder is defined as the companys profit and the clients payoff function as fee paid for forwarding services. To determine the influence of the demand parameters on the forwarders optimal strategies, the demand for transport services is represented as a flow of requests characterized by two numeric parameters delivery distance and consignment weight. Findings. The conducted experimental studies have shown that as a result of the use of the proposed methodology, the optimal strategy of a forwarding company can always be determined from the payoff matrix. The performed simulation experiment allowed us to state that in most cases the forwarders optimal strategy is mixed (the technological and commercial services should be provided with the given probability while servicing the flow of requests from freight owners). Originality. The studies on the influence of the request flow parameters on the probabilities of choosing the elementary strategies are carried in the paper for the first time. Practical value. The proposed methodology can be used as the basic tool for supporting decisions of freight forwarders while servicing the cargo owners at the market of road freight transportation.

An Adaptive Parameter Controlled Ant Colony Optimization Approach for Peer-to-Peer Vehicle and Cargo Matching

With the development of the sharing economy, a lot of vehicle-cargo matching service platforms have been built to reduce supply-request information asymmetry and enhance the use of idle vehicles. It is a critical but challenging task for a logistics service platform to create matches automatically between vehicles and cargos and achieve high vehicle utilization. Conventional vehicle-cargo matching such as one-to-one matching and one-to-many matching cannot recommend multiple vehicle and cargo sources for both drivers and shippers simultaneously. In this article, we investigate an intelligent approach to generate many-to-many vehicle-cargo matches and recommend them to the corresponding cargo owners and vehicle drivers. To this end, we develop a mathematical model for maximizing the platform's matching rate and matching profit and propose an innovative ant colony optimization based on parameter tuning to solve the matching problem. A clustering technology combining bacterial foraging chemotaxis with the k-means algorithm is used to judge the state of the ant colony, and the parameters are adjusted adaptively to make the algorithm converge rapidly to the neighborhood of the global optimal solution. We then apply the randomicity and ergodicity of chaos to adjust the parameters, aiming to jump out of local optimum. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve recommendation results that are accurate and stable compared with those of some other search methods and can provide satisfactory solutions for vehicle drivers and cargo owners.

Volatility spillovers in the dry bulk shipping markets

Baltic Dry Index over the years has witnessed volatility and been an enigma for ship owners and cargo owners. This study tries to investigate the volatility and spillovers in Dry Baltic sub-indices, namely Handymax, Supramax, Panamax and Capesize. The study uses daily data from August 2012 till July 2019 for seven years. The paper contributes to the literature by applying three different multivariate GARCH models, namely the DCC GARCH model, corrected DCC model, and asymmetric corrected DCC GARCH model. Hosking test is applied to find the best model fit and corrected DCC GARCH model is found to be the best fit. The results bring out many interesting spillovers between the Baltic sub-indices and various factors affecting the same are discussed. China trade factor emerges as the major contributor to various spillovers and volatility in the dry bulk market.

АНАЛИЗ КОНКУРЕНТОСПОСОБНОСТИ МОРСКОГО ТРАНСПОРТНОГО УЗЛА

This article analyzes the sea transport node of the Russian Federation. The conditions of competitiveness of sea nodes and the influence of foreign ports are stated. The conditions for the functioning of sea transport node and the principles of the formation of competitiveness are shown. The criteria of competitiveness of sea nodes, which are distinguished by both shipowners and cargo owners, are considered. The evolution of the development of sea transport node is described.

Комерційні ризики морських перевезень в умовах льодової навігації

The commercial risks of sea transportation in ice navigation conditions differ from the usual shipping conditions due to additional factors that affect the fulfillment of the terms of the sea transportation contract. During ice navigation, disputes and litigation often arise between shipowners, charterers, cargo owners and consignees due to the commercial interests of the parties.Purpose.The purpose of this article is to analyze the commercial risks of maritime transport in ice navigation and identify possible ways to reduce them by making additional amendments to the contract of carriage in the global maritime market.Methods. To solve the problem, the following methods were used: the method of theoretical generalization, the method of analysis and synthesis, the method of systema-tization, the method of deduction.Results. The analysis of the international regulatory documents regulating commercial conditions and risks of navigation in the conditions of ice navigation is carried out. The main commercial risks arising from the organization of shipping and icebreaking of ships are identified and characterized, and measures to reduce them are proposed.Originality. The need to improve the commercial conditions for sea transport during the ice navigation period is due to an increase in commercial risks and, as a consequence, a decrease in cargo flows in ports in the winter. It is proposed to create new rational approaches to the conclusion of contracts of carriage by sea, taking into account international experience in order to reduce risks and attract cargo.Output. In conditions of ice navigation, the commercial risks of international maritime transport increase significantly due to. This has a significant impact on the business costs of the transport participants due to delays, unforeseen costs and additional risks. All of these factors reduce the commercial efficiency of maritime transport for all participants. It is necessary to constantly refine and improve the charter conditions in ice navigation conditions.Keywords: ice navigation, sea transportation, commercial operation of a vessel, commercial risks.

Интегрированное управление контейнерной транспортной системой региона

Nowadays, regional container transport systems operate in the context of incomplete information and lack of integration of economic entities. Pursuance of personal economic gains by companies often leads to an imbalance in the development of regional terminal capacities, irrational empty container flows and a decreased efficiency of the regional container system in general. The present article proposes an approach to the integrated management of the regional container transport system based on the coordinated container flow distribution between terminals. This technology aims to increase the efficiency of the whole system, including due to the flow enlargement and the accelerated container trains formation. The approach involves the data sharing between cargo owners, terminals, the railway and resource owners on a digital logistics platform that forms logistics chains taking into account the transportation geography, infrastructure capacity and the interests of container market entities. The research presents a mathematical formalisation of the optimal container delivery chains by the time criterion, as well as a model of the integrated distribution of container flows between terminals. The model distributes the total container flow generated by a region between the existing terminal facilities in a way to minimise the total time of cargo delivery (taking into account the accumulation time of the full-length container block train at the terminal). The model, tested in the conditions of the container transport system in the Ural region, showed that an integrated management approach reduces the average container delivery time by 5 days due to the flow enlargement and regular container block trains. The effect size depends on the total regional container flow, as the larger number of requests for transportation to a certain destination leads to the accelerated formation of loaded container trains. The proposed technology is of economic interest for various participants of the container transport system. For cargo owners, it reduces the delivery time and, consequently, increases the capital turnover; for container owners, it accelerates the container turnover and reduces empty running; for terminals, it increases the throughput by reducing the accumulation time. To improve the model, it is planned to develop approaches for coordinating not only outgoing, but also incoming container flows between existing terminals.

КОНКУРЕНТОСПОСОБНОСТЬ СТИВИДОРНЫХ КОМПАНИЙ В ПОРТОВОЙ ОТРАСЛИ

This article discusses the competitive relationship between the stevedoring companies in the port sector of the Russian Federation. The market of stevedoring services is considered as an economic system of relations between stevedoring companies and cargo owners and shipowners, as well as the functions of stevedores. The main components of the competitiveness of stevedoring companies are presented. Considered five levels of the model of competitive relations of stevedoring companies.

Использование методики выбора маршрута доставки грузов в смешанном сообщении на основе сетевого графика при транспортировке в цепях поставок

The use of methodological techniques for choosing the route of cargo delivery during intermodal traffic of containerized cargo based on construction of the network schedule for transportation in supply chains is considered. The basis of the network schedule, each of the paths of which corresponds to certain ways of cargo delivery by different modes of transport and their combinations, is the sequential summation of work from the initial event of formation of the consignment to the final event - its delivery to the final consumer. Each work allows you to take into account two important indicators corresponding to the time and cost of its execution, and the full path allows you to determine the present cost of cargo transportation and the lost benefit in the delivery process associated with the duration of the cargo in transit. This algorithm is demonstrated by the example of the transportation of house-hold appliances by different modes of transport on the Shanghai - Moscow route. As a generalizing determinant of the choice of the priority direction of transportation, a summary indicator is used, minimizing time, cost and present value under conditions of uncertainty, taking into account the criteria of Laplace, Wald, Savage and Hurwitz. The presented algorithm serves as a tool that allows decision makers, participants in the transportation process and other concerned parties (owners of infrastructure and rolling stock, freight forwarding and operator companies, cargo owners) to reliably assess the effectiveness of transportation options in supply chains and adequately respond to possible shifts in changing conditions throughout the period of fulfillment of contractual obligations.

Clustering Methods for Determination of Optimal Locations of Container Storage and Distribution Centers

A mathematical model has been developed to determine the number and locations of container storage and distribution centers (CSDC) based on clustering methods, which allows mutually linking the various baseline parameters of production and the rail network with a variety of targets. A multi-criterion approach has been proposed to calculate the optimal variant of the CSDC network, taking into account the additional characteristics of the candidate railway stations, which allows, using vector optimization methods, practically determining the optimal places for the creation of the CSDC at known investment costs (the number of CSDC is set), as well as quantifying the optimal number of created CSDC (the number of CSDC is not set). Implementation of the proposed methodology allows us to move to scientifically sound decision-making in investment projects related to the development of transport and logistics infrastructure, improve the quality of transport and logistics services of cargo owners, organize a concerted delivery of goods to the terminal-logistics infrastructure, improve the use of rolling stock, reduce the cost of shipping goods in containers, thereby increasing the attractiveness of container transport.

МЕНЕДЖМЕНТ ФУНКЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ СТІЙКОСТІ В ГЛОБАЛЬНОМУ РИНКУ МОРСЬКОЇ ТОРГІВЛІ

The complication of the process of balancing the development of the navigable segment of the maritime trade market is determined by the priority of the formation of the position of leading enterprises in the simultaneous concentration of attention of leading external trading institutions such as the European Union and China. The leading subsystems of global relations focus on transport component of relations in the maintenance of export-import cargo flows. The principle of intensifying the use of the advantages of transport subsystems causes the formation of symmetry by the complexity of the process of optimizing the delivery of goods from basic ports.One of the more important goals of development and ensuring the sustainability of specialized maritime transport enterprises should be evaluated by changing the needs of naval transport. Deepening the study of the change in the nature of the reaction of cargo owners causes a reduction in the time of achieving the relevant sectors and creates the formation of business benefits. This is exactly what should be taken into account when forming the search for the relevant resources and directions of their timely return.The revival of the software-target method of choosing the directions of development and achievement of the symmetric position of the company regarding the parameters of the maritime trade market and the competitive technologies market should support the development of the concept of long-term maintenance of the position regarding the risks of the current and future state of business management.Attention appeals to the problems of achieving a sustainable position of shipping companies and trading conditions in changing circumstances of the maritime trade market. This problem is especially manifested in marine states with limited opportunities for the development of subsystems of the maritime transport industry. It is necessary to develop an accuracy and timeliness of estimating transformational processes in the system of maritime trade. In achieving the normalized rates of economic growth in developed states, the main thing is the maintenance of a steady position in the system of financial relations on states that have advantages in the growing rates of foreign trade. Therefore, two approaches to trading shipping services are formed. From the position of the international maritime organization, system standards and rules are established. Management of proprietary structures in accordance with this should determine the position in the entrepreneurial sphere. But this task in a single freight space is considered by other operators, which determines the factors of asymmetry.

Optimization of operation scheme for express freight railway

With the high-speed development of industrialization process and the Internet e-commerce in China, the number of the fast cargoes is increasing. The transportation demands of customer should be provided in a convenient and efficient way. However, compared to road and aviation, railway express freight network is lagging in China, the market share is relatively low, and the service is still in a low level. The operation scheme of railway express freight train can improve the railway efficiency. This paper studies the railway express freight train schemes on several related questions. They are as follows: (1) We analyze the factors of operating express freight train. (2) Based on the assumption of the shortest path for the flow of traffic, the operation scheme of express freight railways is optimized by establishing a multitarget model with making the largest railway revenue and the largest satisfaction of cargo owner. (3) The multitarget model is proposed to be converted into a single-target model. It is the case of carrying out the operation scheme in the four logistics node cities of the southwest China. The following conclusions are taken: (1) The choice method of the flow path is generally analyzed by heuristic method, which is more accurate. (2) We establish a multiobjective optimization model on the base of getting the maximum of transport revenue and satisfying the cargo owner’s demand.

The Railway’s Unjustified Enrichment as a Result of Abuse of the Right in Obligations To Carry Goods

The paper examines issues related to unscrupulous behavior of the railways, which unthoroughly benefit at the expense of other participants of the obligations for the carriage of goods. The paper considered cases where the railways use legally valid facts (transactions) as imaginary grounds for obtaining property (money) from freight and cargo owners and encourage them to provide the undue. It is proposed to qualify such a conduct of the railways as an abuse of the right committed for the purpose of unjustified enrichment. Based on the analysis of complex contractual relations (contracts on carriage organization, contracts in the form of submission and acceptance of an application for the carriage of goods, contracts of carriage of goods, etc.) arising between the participants of legal relations concerning the carriage of goods (shippers, consignees, owners of infrastructure and carriers), the author has identified conditions that are conducive to receiving unjustified enrichment by the railways, namely: combining different legal statuses by the railways (carrier, owner of infrastructure, agent of a third party, etc.), removal from the railways of the burden of performing obligations and risks of liability for the failure to perform obligations, the position of a weaker party assigned to the railways’ contractual counterparties. According to the author, in order to prevent references to legal facts as grounds for enrichment, the economic purpose of the legal relationship must be recognized as an appropriate ground. It is noted that such an economic goal is one for the goals pursued by the whole system of legal relations for the carriage of goods and that its violation deprives the railways of the right to demand execution under the transaction, since making this claim must be considered as an abuse of the right. It is argued that the contractual counterparty of the railways, aware of the absence of grounds for granting property on its part, does not commit a legal error, as soon is it is a weaker party to the contract.

Optimization of Railway Express Freight Trains Operation Plan under the Competition of Highway and Railway

In recent years, China’s economy has developed rapidly, especially in the Internet industry and e-commerce. These have led to the rapid growth of the express industry. The express delivery industry has a huge demand for transportation. However, due to the speed and convenience of highway, the highway transportation occupies a large market share. Due to relevant policies and the inadequate transportation capacity resource allocation, a large number of medium and long-distance freight flows that are suitable for railway transportation choose highway transportation. This not only greatly reduces the profits of the railway transportation department, increases the carbon emission of the transportation system, but also makes the load of some road sections higher than expected. Therefore, in order to protect the environment and enhance the market competitiveness of the railway department, the optimization of the railway express freight train schedule is an urgent task.On the basis of previous research results, this paper first calculates the generalized cost of highway and railway from the perspective of the cargo owner, and finds out whether the cargo owner will choose railway, that is, which freight flow will be attracted to the railway. Then, with the maximization of the profits of the railway department as the objective function, the 0-1 integer programming model is established under the constraints of railway transportation capacity, freight transportation time and decision variable value restrictions, etc. Finally, a small-scale example is designed. After put the data into the model, the optimized operation plan of railway express freight trains is obtained.

COVID-19, Force Majeure, and the Legal and Financial Implications of Utilizing Reefer Shipping Containers

This article begins by discussing the rise of the refrigerated ("reefer") container industry and business model. It is important for readers to understand the growing importance of reefers to U.S. export, and how they contribute to supply chain complexity and port congestion. Next, we address how the Corona Virus (COVID-19) impacted reefer container transport. We then discuss how ocean carriers utilized the Force Majeure doctrine to their advantage in their transport of reefer containers, and the related legal implications of them doing so. We also analyze whether insurance covers cargo owner loss in this situation and what happens when the cargo owner decides to just walk away and abandon reefer containers when the ocean carrier exercises its right to discharge the cargo at an alternative foreign port of convenience. The article concludes with recommendations regarding how cargo owners can move forward to analyze and mitigate risk.

A Study on the Effect of the Freight Variability Reduction by Cargo Owner’s Ship Investment: Focusing on the Deep See Container Freight Cycle

Purpose This study delves into theoretical background and the effect of shipping investment by container shippers while studying shipping investment methods through funds and investment inducement strategies. Design/Methodology/Approach We used the data of SCFI to deduce the freight cycle of the specific route which is the longest and the most frequent at the deep-sea container shipping and we used the methodology of Hodrick-Prescott (HP) Filter to separate the trend and cycle from the data. Finally we used the actual freight data of deep sea routes from Busan port, Korea to analyze and to find out whether there is the effect of freight variability reduction by Cargo Owner’s ship investment. Findings The findings have shown that there have been large declines in the fluctuations of freight rates during a shipping cycle of economic expansion in the order of sea lanes of the Americas, Europe. Research Implications Investments in maritime carriage by Korean shippers have many limiting factors in many unfavorable investment conditions even though such positive effect exists. So the government needs to support policy for shippers ship investment such as tax benefit, credit support for MSE logistics, Service Contract expansion.

THE FEATURES OF EFFECTIVENESS SUBSTANTIATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF RIVER PIERS OF ENTERPRISES

The relevance of the article arises from the need to increase the role of inland water transport in the general transport system by adequately effectiveness substantiation of different kinds of transport and switching cargo transportation to river transport. The aim is to substantiate the effectiveness of the piers construction owned by enterprises to overload goods. The article gives a methodology for determining the sources of cost savings for cargo owners when attracting goods to river transport along the entire logistics chain, including taking into account the forced construction of their own terminals by enterprises due to the observed location change or the complete absence of public ports. The information of the methodology testing results on the example of JSC «Vyksa Metallurgical Plant» is given.

Risk and Volatility Spillover Between Commodity and Freight Market An Application on Capesize Freight Market

Uncertainty in freight rates poses great risks for ship and cargo owners. Identifying the factors that affect the volatility of freight is of great importance in reducing risks arising from uncertainty. The aim of this study is to investigate the volatility spillover and risk transmission between commodity prices and freight rates in Capesize market through the causality in variance test. In the study, 3 different transportation routes are included for Capesize freights, while the prices of the 3 main cargo carried in the dry bulk market are considered as commodity prices. Dataset consists of 234 monthly observations and covers the dates between January 2000 and June 2019. According to the results obtained, while unidirectional significant causalities are determined from both iron ore and coal prices to all freight routes, bidirectional significant causalities are determined between wheat prices and freights.

AEO certification – necessity or privilege for supply chain participants

Purpose This study aims to investigate the motives for and the benefits of authorized economic operator (AEO) certification in the supply chain. Also, whether there are significant differences in the perception of the AEO status as a necessity or privilege among cargo owners and service providers. Design/methodology/approach The research design includes an international survey of 159 AEO-certified companies from four European Union (EU) countries performing various roles in the supply chain. The data are analyzed using quantitative methods, including factor analysis and analysis of variance. Findings Based on factor analysis, the research reveals the motives for and benefits of AEO certification. This reveals significant differences between two distinct groups of supply chain participants, namely, cargo owners and service providers. Service providers are mainly driven by the need to gain or maintain their competitive advantage and treat AEO certification as a standard that is required by customers. Cargo owners are relatively more focused on the improvement of internal processes and treat AEO certification as a privilege that helps them achieve a high level of efficiency. Originality/value The study fills the existing literature gap as it focuses on the differences between two distinct groups (cargo owners and service providers) in terms of their perception of the AEO certification. As empirical research in this area is scarce, especially at the cross-country level, this study also significantly complements knowledge on AEO certification in the EU.

SCIENTIFIC-METHODICAL APPROACH TO CARGO DELIVERY ON THE PRINCIPLE «JUST-IN-TIME» ON THE RIVER TRANSPORT

The article defines the relevance of delivery on the principle of «just-in-time» for the river transport and presents a developed algorithm for the transition to ensuring delivery on time on individual river shipping lines. An approbation of the proposed scientific and methodological approach to ensuring delivery on time was carried out using the example of the existing river service line, within which measures were developed to stabilize the delivery operations according to the current destabilizing factors and their effectiveness was evaluated. The article presents methodology for estimating delivery options on the terms of on time delivery from the point of view of the cargo owner. The possibility and expediency of organizing delivery on time on individual river shipping lines has been proved, both from the point of view of cargo owners and from the point of view of shipping companies, taking into account the provision of counteraction to destabilizing factors.