Freight Sector Research Articles

Mediation Role of Organizational Culture on Transport Costing

The culture of an organization is influenced as the organization faces and learns how to cope with external and internal encounters. Those principles are maintained as the organization's way of doing business offers an effective adaptation to environmental problems and maintains success. The study sought to ascertain the importance of organizational culture in road freight transport sector in Zimbabwe. The road freight sector has been characterized by unprofessional behaviour and incompetent management. Organizational culture is key to defining the uniqueness of an organization, brand, philosophy, and how it relates to business ethics and all other stakeholders. Globally organizational culture has been given great eminence and priority as strategy followed culture in business performance. This was a quantitative study of road freight transport sector across Zimbabwe with a population of 1256 registered companies and a randomly picked sample size of 384 registered road freight companies out of 1256 companies from which data were collected. A total of 384 questionnaires were distributed and 291 were retrieved giving a response rate of 75.6%. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Reliability was checked using Cronbach’s alpha (?). Before conducting structural equation modelling, data were validated using exploratory factor analysis, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. SPSS® version 21 and AMOS® version 21 were used to analyse the data. The findings showed that organizational culture can help to mediate the relationship between transportation costs and firm competitiveness. The findings suggest that organizational culture has a significant impact on the relationship between transportation costs and firm competitiveness. The study also found out that all the registered companies that took part in the research confirmed that the value of time phenomenon was alien to their business organisational culture practices as they worked on assumptions. They also indicated loss of business due to customer complaints. The study recommends policy formulation for companies that emphasizes standard operating procedures and good time management as organisational culture for firms to be competitive.

Inherent Relationship Between Transport Costing and Organizational Competitiveness: A Case of the Road Freight Sector in Zimbabwe

The main aim of road freight transport is transporting of goods by road. It is the most developed area of transport. The advantage of road transport is the direct transport from the sender to the recipient, faster, easier transportation resulting from technology, availability and operability. The disadvantages of this type of transport are traffic intensity dependence on the state network of road infrastructure and negative impact on the environment. The significance of calculation in transport is so important. It helps carriers to inform on the efficiency and profitability of the services provided, also in allocation of pricing services for budgetary purposes, but also for reducing of cost. This study interrogated the inherent relationship between transport costing and organizational competitiveness in the Zimbabwe Road Freight Sector. The study was prompted by an observation that most road freight companies collapsed before even they reach the five-year mark of trading. Literature is awash with transport costing models and there seemed to be a disparity in the conceptualization and application of these to real business scenarios. That led to the use of somewhat firefighting costing strategies with no meaning results. This was a quantitative study of road freight transport sector across Zimbabwe with a population of 1256 registered companies and a randomly picked sample size of 384. A total of 384 questionnaires were distributed and 291 were retrieved giving a response rate of 75.6%. study found out that the idea of transport costing was alien in the minds of many operators and managers as they used borrowed rates from competitors to price their own services without looking at the cost build up to the rate. This led to unprofitable operations. The study findings established that transport costing has a positive effect on organizational competitiveness. The study recommends training and development into transport costing and inclusion of this concept as a stand-alone module in Zimbabwean Education curriculum.

Exploring Digital Twins in the Transport and Energy Fields: A Bibliometrics and Literature Review Approach

Logistics and transport are major sources of energy consumption that still rely heavily on fossil fuels. Especially in the freight sector, finding means to optimise fuel consumption and energy efficiency are increasingly important. Digital twins’ adaptation in logistics and transport is not as frequent as in production, but their implementation potential is immense. This technology can replicate real environments, allowing verification of various scenarios without real-life application, leading to optimal implementation outcome faster and more efficiently. This paper aims to research digital twins’ use in logistics and transport, focusing on digital twins’ potential and effects to optimise energy consumption. Firstly, previous research on digital twins in specified fields was identified, followed by a quantitative literature review. The latter focused on codifying the selected publications based on criteria such as modality, specific environment, energy consumption, etc. Furthermore, a qualitative overview of 57 relevant publications on digital twins’ use in logistics and transport was made. The main contribution of this paper is the systematic overview of digital twins from the viewpoint of energy optimisation in one of the most energy-dependent sectors. This gives researchers a good starting point for further research and digital twins’ practical implementation cases.

Statistical Optimization of E-Scooter Micro-Mobility Utilization in Postal Service

New-generation technologies on vehicles provide many advantages in terms of cost, time, and the environment in the transportation, logistics, freight, and delivery service sectors. This study aimed to measure the effect of using e-scooter vehicles in mail delivery on the energy cost and delivery time in Turkey. Considering the number of test drives in e-scooter applications of potential regions, the amount of energy consumption and driving time data were used. The number of test drives for each e-scooter was assumed as a package or postal delivery amount. The methodology of this study consisted of measuring the effect of input parameters on output variables using the linear response optimization regression method and minimizing the amount of energy consumed and delivery time. The nine input variables and two output variables based on the test drive were analyzed in this study. The distance to the delivery address, region where the delivery address was located, and temperature were found to be statistically significant predictors of the amount of energy required for delivery. The statistical significance levels of time zone, distance, temperature, rainfall, and region factors were calculated as 0.053, 0.001, 0.0033, 0.044, and 0.042, respectively. Driver age, data time zone, distance, wind speed, and delivery region factors affected the time required for delivery with an e-scooter. The statistical significance levels of these factors were calculated as 0.02, 0.001, 0.001, 0.043, and 0.001, respectively. Additionally, N (p; 0.042), NE (p; 0.030), and W (p; 0.057) wind directions directly influenced the delivery time. SE (p; 0.017) was the only wind direction that statistically significantly affected energy consumption. The objective functions were estimated by calculating the optimum values of the input parameters for the minimum energy consumption and delivery time. The optimum values of both input and output variables were calculated based on the desirability values of the optimization models, which were in the optimum solution set. The average data of the optimum values of the objective functions were computed as 2.83 for the number of tests and TRY 0.021 (per 0.098 km) for the energy cost required for delivery. The necessity of using e-scooters, which are more environmentally friendly, economical, and time-saving than traditional delivery vehicles, in postal delivery service is among the prominent suggestions of this study.

The Renovation of Italian Railway Stations: From the Journey to the Consumption of the Journey

The article analyses the transformations that have affected Italian railway stations in recent decades. The first part deals with the history of the railway station and is devoted to understanding its functions as well as its social and symbolic meanings. The construction of railways had a significant impact on the urban form: it created new centralities and fractures and conditioned the development of the city. The railway station represented a novelty from an architectural point of view, being a space in which architectural and engineering knowledge merged. Because of their importance and monumentality, railway stations have been likened to cathedrals of modernity and movement and have been among the most important public spaces in the twentieth century. The second part of the article focuses on railway station renovation projects, in particular the «Grandi Stazioni» project, viewing it in the broader context of the profound changes in urban policies, which are increasingly oriented towards enhancing competitiveness and attractiveness. The renovation of stations has been aimed at revitalising rail mobility to address the mounting crisis in both the freight and passenger sectors, due to competition from road transport first and air transport later. The loss of centrality of rail transport had also affected railway station spaces, multiplying material and social voids as well as forms of decay. The renovation of railway stations has taken the form of a privatisation and commodification of spaces and an increase in surveillance and control. The transformations of railway stations can thus be read an example of contraction/domestication of public space.
 
 Received: 21 October 2022 / Accepted: 26 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023

US Labour Law and the Right to Strike

US Labour Law and the Right to Strike Lance Compa (bio) The prospect of a nationwide rail strike in late 2022 focused attention on a rarely-used legal mechanism infringing workers' right to strike in the United States. Invoking an "emergency" clause in the specialised labour law governing collective bargaining in the railroad industry, the Biden administration and Congress imposed a legislated collective agreement in December that blocked unions from freely negotiating an agreement, and using strike leverage to achieve it. The imposed agreement was not back-to-work legislation breaking a strike, but a pre-emptive move to prevent a strike from happening. It was the first time in more than 30 years that Congress imposed an agreement on national rail unions and employers, and only the sixth time since passage of the Railway Labor Act in 1926 (more numerous interventions addressed local bargaining disputes, often in commuter rail transit systems). In a coordinated communications offensive, railroad employers and business associations had warned throughout 2022 of "disastrous," "devastating," "catastrophic" and other doomsday effects on the nation's economy if railroad workers struck. Many in the media, the academy, think tanks, and the political class parroted these claims. A herd mentality took shape, bellowing that "the Administration and Congress must act!" to avert a strike. And so they did1. The structure of labour relations in the American railroad industry is an important backdrop to the 2022 story. After mergers and acquisitions, what were a dozen rail freight companies thirty years ago are now just four major carriers. Each is the single dominant force in a major geographic region of the United States. Empowered by this oligopolistic structure, rail freight employers moved to drastic cost-cutting. By not replacing workers who retired, they reduced the size of the workforce from 200,000 to 125,000 in the past decade. And they imposed intense work systems to extract more productivity from those who remained. Corporate profits and shareholders' return on investment surged to record levels. Railroads are the most highly-unionised industry in the United States, with virtually all non-management workers represented by unions. In the freight sector, the four major carriers bargain as a group with a coalition of twelve unions for a master contract to standardise pay and conditions. Each of the unions represents traditional "craft or class" employees in all the companies – locomotive engineers, conductors and brakemen, dispatchers, maintenance-of-way employees, communications employees, electricians, machinists and others. The key issue in 2022 negotiations was not pay or benefits. It was time – the issue at the heart of labour-management conflict since the earliest days of trade unionism. When does the employer control workers' time? And when do workers control their own time? Although railroad workers were first to win the 8-hour day, US law does not prohibit employers from imposing mandatory overtime, compulsory work schedules, and other demands on workers' time. In rail negotiations in 2022, a key issue was employers' practice of forcing workers to use vacation time for sickness and for medical appointments related to sickness. On top of that, employers adopted what they termed Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), a kind of "just-intime" scheduling system requiring mandatory irregular work shifts and increased workloads. The PSR system allowed no leeway for workers to deal with medical issues, and left no other staff in position to fill in for sick or injured workers. Employers enforced the PSR system with harsh disciplinary action against workers who ran afoul of attendance requirements, even if absences were due to illness. Workers and their unions sought a modest number of paid sick days to cover such events. They wanted to stop using vacation time for sick pay, and to avert absenteeism "points" leading to discipline or discharge. They also sought limits on scheduling abuses that had them working for long stretches beyond the normal work week, often far from their families. But for rail freight management, controlling workers' time and maintaining their cut-to-the-bone scheduling system were key to continued high profits2. In mid-November, in tripartite talks brokered by the Secretary of Labor, employers and unions tentatively agreed on a contract that would have...

Carbon Emissions in Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) due to Logistics Industries

The global supply chain is growing and becoming complex as consumer demand increases. Since 2011, the world has seen an alarming increase in vehicular carbon emissions. Today, motor vehicles are estimated to contribute nearly 24 per cent of the world's direct CO2 emissions. With the advent of E-commerce, consumers/customers prefer deliveries being made at their doorstep. Manufacturing must keep up with the demand for more raw materials and would require more trucks to deliver goods and other production factors. These expansions and developments have put significant strain on the environment and sustainability over the years. This, in turn, highlights the importance of sustainability in logistics and green logistics. Many industries are taking various sustainable measures to balance their environmental impact. The transportation and logistics industry is the third largest contributor to carbon emissions (as per ETenergyworld.com). According to the World Economic Outlook (2020) review report, the road freight sector is India's third most CO2-emitting sector. In this study, we have attempted to calculate the carbon emission in the inner and outer cordons of the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) due to goods vehicles (logistics). The calculations are carried out for both Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV) and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV). Logistic hub-wise, region-wise, and highway-wise carbon emissions are also calculated in these areas.

Improvement of Train Traffic Control Technology Based on Abstract Modelling of Operational Processes

Purpose. The main goal of the work is to improve the process of controlling transport units (trains) on the basis of abstract modelling of operational processes, which will allow the operational dispatching apparatus to respond in a timely manner to constantly changing train conditions. Methodology. In order to ensure the rhythmic and uniform movement of trains of all categories along railway lines, train dispatchers, based on their experience, together with locomotive dispatchers and train locomotive drivers, constantly monitor the operational train condition and develop a strategy for the movement of trains along railway sections. This approach is quite energy-consuming in terms of human resources due to excessive nervous tension. As a result of this shortcoming and mistakes made, there are unproductive downtime at railway stations and, in some cases, a significant reduction in sectional speed, which in turn directly affects the industry's profitability and the quality of passenger service, including high-speed traffic. The basis for making management decisions on operational train conditions is automated systems and personal experience of professionals. In this regard, it is advisable to form a model that will reproduce the optimal train operation plan by predicting the main indicators. Findings. In the course of the scientific and applied research, the predictor of collision of trains of different categories with station and inter-train intervals was determined, which can later become the basis of a powerful module of the operational decision support system. Originality. The paper proposes an approach to improving the process of managing transport units based on abstract modelling of operational processes, which, unlike existing approaches, allows the implementation of a high-speed intelligent decision support system for railway dispatching with the possibility of self-adaptation. Practical value. The implementation of the proposed approach in the form of an automated software system will further increase the profitability of the railway industry in the freight and passenger traffic sector.

Alternative fuels for hard-to-abate sectors: a carbon intensity assessment

Heavy duty is a hard-to-abate segment of transport. Heavy duty freight sector includes road, maritime and the fast-growing aviation segments. Due to the need of energy dense vector, specifically for freight sector, the liquid alternative fuels are considered as the most effective short-to-medium term option to allow decarbonisation. The possibility to uptake these fuels in heavy-duty road and maritime is investigated in this paper, with the goal of highlighting the potentials and the existing bottlenecks. The eLNG and bio-LNG are considered as alternative fuel for road Heavy Duty, while hydrogen, ammonia and eDiesel have been selected for maritime. The potential GreenHouse Gases (GHG) saving for such alternative fuels are estimated on the basis of Well-to-Tank approach, and compared with the relative fossil benchmark. The results show the benefit of using LNG from residues for road sector, and potentially the maritime. Regarding the e-fuels, the GHG savings are potentially relevant, but using low carbon electricity for their production is crucial.

Using Environmental Cost to Evaluate Air Freight Traffic in a Turkish International Airport

Air freight transportation has major advantages such as rapid and safe transit of goods compared to other transportation modes. As well as other transportation sectors growth rate of air freight transportation is related to global supply chain. Air freight sector fundamentally includes freight forwarders, integrators, warehousing, customs, agents, airport terminal operators, and air freight carriers. Cost of air freight transportation is dependent to carrier expenses including costs of ground and flight crew, fuel, aircraft maintenance and insurance. But environmental prevention costs are usually missed out and disregarded. But environmental costs gained importance for many enterprises as well as airway companies after Kyoto and Paris Agreements. The current paper describes an approach to calculate prevention cost of air freight operations induced air pollutants. For this purpose, air freight traffic in an International Airport located in Isparta, Turkey is considered to present the approach. At the end of the study environmental cost of each air pollutant emissions, annual environmental cost of flight operations in the airport, and annual environmental cost per unit freight are calculated and compared in terms of yearly variation. The presented approach is employed to evaluate environmental costs related to air freight traffic in an International Airport for the first time.

Comparing e-Fuels and Electrification for Decarbonization of Heavy-Duty Transports

The freight sector is expected to keep, or even increase, its fundamental role for the major modern economies, and therefore actions to limit the growing pressure on the environment are urgent. The use of electricity is a major option for the decarbonization of transports; in the heavy-duty segment, it can be implemented in different ways: besides full electric-battery powertrains, electricity can be used to supply catenary roads, or can be chemically stored in liquid or gaseous fuels (e-fuels). While the current EU legislation adopts a tailpipe Tank-To-Wheels approach, which results in zero emissions for all direct uses of electricity, a Well-To-Wheels (WTW) method would allow accounting for the potential benefits of using sustainable fuels such as e-fuels. In this article, we have performed a WTW-based comparison and modelling of the options for using electricity to supply heavy-duty vehicles: e-fuels, eLNG, eDiesel, and liquid Hydrogen. Results showed that the direct use of electricity can provide high Greenhouse Gas (GHG) savings, and also in the case of the e-fuels when low-carbon-intensity electricity is used for their production. While most studies exclusively focus on absolute GHG savings potential, considerations of the need for new infrastructures, and the technological maturity of some options, are fundamental to compare the different technologies. In this paper, an assessment of such technological and non-technological barriers has been conducted, in order to compare alternative pathways for the heavy-duty sector. Among the available options, the flexibility of using drop-in, energy-dense liquid fuels represents a clear and substantial immediate advantage for decarbonization. Additionally, the novel approach adopted in this paper allows us to quantify the potential benefits of using e-fuels as chemical storage able to accumulate electricity from the production peaks of variable renewable energies, which would otherwise be wasted due to grid limitations.

Exploring the freight transportation transitions for mitigation and development pathways of India

Greenhouse gas emissions and PM2.5 pollution from vehicular exhausts and the consequent negative externalities underline the urgency of investigating low-carbon pathways for the freight sector. This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis to determine the implications of a modal shift in the freight sector for the environment, energy systems and the economy. Stakeholder consultations are used to develop the qualitative narratives that are further used to set the parameters in energy-economy optimization models for deriving quantitative pathways. Our analysis includes four scenarios: Current Policy (CPS), Road Focused (FROAD), Rail Technology (TRAIL) and Harmonized Multimodal (HMML). The HMML scenario follows a balanced approach harmonizing the twin goals of reducing imported fuels and carbon emissions that can simultaneously assist in achieving development and decarbonization targets. Our results show that the HMML scenario based on the multimodal approach of creating a level playing field for all modes can reduce fossil fuel imports by 87.6% and CO2 emissions by 96%, relative to CPS in 2050. The HMML scenario also envisages significant macroeconomic benefits – the cost of logistics as a percentage of GDP falls to 11%, and there are cumulative foreign exchange savings of 3.8 trillion USD from 2016 to 2050. However, electrification, the leading technology for the respective decarbonizing modes, will need policies that enhance research and innovation on batteries and infrastructure investments for charging along national and state highways. The main policy insight from our analysis is that multimodal logistics policy needs to be designed in alignment with clean energy-based electrification policy and national rail plans so that uniform rules from the origin govern all modes to the destination of goods transport.

Using energy consumption constraints to control the freight transportation structure in China (2021–2030)

China has formulated a series of energy-saving policies to combat climate change, including energy consumption limit to 6 billion tonnes of standard coal by 2030, thus controlling the energy consumption of freight transportation is crucial for achieving energy-saving goals. In this study, the annual control model for freight transportation structure adjustment (FTSA-AC model) was established from the perspectives of the target year prediction and intermediate year controlling to control energy consumption in the freight sector. Innovatively, an efficient algorithm was designed to solve the model and obtain the annual control plan of freight transportation structure adjustment in China (2021–2030). Accordingly, the national freight transportation structure will be continuously adjusted to the optimal state until 2027, and the freight turnover will be achieved at a steady growth rate of 1.50% from 2027 to 2030. The freight turnover will reach 22888.040 billion tonne-kilometres by 2030, in which railways, highways, waterways, and aviation would account for 18.92%, 30.20%, 50.76%, and 0.12%, respectively. According to the results, freight energy consumption will reach its peak in 2029, with 145 million tonnes of standard coal. Lastly, a series of reasonable policy recommendations were presented to provide a reference for energy-efficient freight transport development in China.

An Evaluation of Ireland’s Sustainable Freight Transport Policy

Background: The Irish government has put forth sustainable transport policy measures, yet the emphasis is mainly on the active travel and sustainable mobility for passenger transport. Contrariwise, freight transport has not received equal consideration in policy measures, regulatory frameworks, and support schemes towards the low-carbon transition. This study seeks to address this imbalance. Methods: The paper proposes an adaptation of the ASI framework for freight transport and assesses the applicability of a number of international sustainable transport measures based on their potential sustainability impact if adopted in Ireland. The research applied a Policy Delphi Method to a heterogeneous expert panel. Results: The findings indicate that the current sustainable freight transport policy measures in Ireland are limited, and the paper suggests 38 measures for supply chains, maritime transport, rail transport and urban freight transport. The analysis further suggests that decarbonisation measures in Ireland should first formulate on the decarbonisation stages ‘avoid’ and ‘shift’, and then move to the ‘improve’ stage, thus leading to a greater impact on decarbonising the freight sector. Conclusions: An ‘ASI for freight transport’ framework is proposed as a taxonomy to systematically compare freight decarbonisation policy measures locally and internationally. This updated framework can serve as a new lens to prioritise sustainable freight policy measures. Recommendations are proposed for developing policy measures for sustainable freight transport in Ireland.

On-Demand Logistics: Solutions, Barriers, and Enablers

The urban freight sector provides an essential service by delivering goods that are required by shops, companies, and households at a specific place and time. However, the growth of e-commerce and the dawn of on-demand logistics (hereinafter ODL) have raised citizens’ expectations of logistics systems, further stressing them and thereby increasing their operational and environmental costs. To the authors’ best knowledge, there are no extensive literature reviews specifically on the topic of ODL and on suggestions for policy prioritisation for tackling its effects. This paper aims at addressing this issue by providing an extensive literature review of ODL and its enablers. This research, after a thorough explanation of the ODL rationale, its trends, and its effects, analyses possible solutions to its inefficiencies, focusing on enablers and barriers. Furthermore, it illustrates and clarifies the role of external factors in influencing ODL. Finally, it proposes a systematic evaluation approach by identifying knowledge gaps and consequently defining the subsequent actions needed, broken down by the individual influencing components, rendering these solutions compatible with the status quo and effective for solving the highlighted issues.

The Benefits of Truck Platooning with an Increasing Market Penetration: A Case Study in Japan

Truck platooning can potentially reduce carbon emissions caused by the road freight sector because fuel consumption would be reduced when trucks travel in a platoon. While research about the coordination and benefits of truck platooning is underway, the high costs of such technology suggest it will be several years before significant market penetration is achieved. In this study, we develop an improved mixed-integer linear programming model to optimize the formation and route of truck platooning. Then the model is applied to Japanese 10th logistic census data to estimate the benefits and formation pattern of truck platooning with the increase in the market penetration of platooning technologies. The results of the numerical calculations indicate that the largest total cost saving rate, matching rate and fuel saving rate are 1.15%, 57% and 5.7%, respectively. These three rates were all found to increase at first and then decrease as more and more trucks become platoonable, implying that truck platooning is profitable even in the initial stage and that not all trucks are suited to joining a platoon. Furthermore, several scenarios, including a discount on toll fees and different inter-vehicle distances, are considered to determine the effect of these factors on the benefits of truck platooning.

Studies on the impact of road freight transport and alternative modes in Australia: a literature study

The freight sector in Australia has been growing at an ever-increasing rate due to domestic and international demand for goods, commodities, and resources. Increased volume of traffic comes with increased greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gas impacts climate change and air pollution, increasing the risk of public health and safety. The European Union used Marco Polo to shift transit freight from road to sea, rail, and inland waterways to reduce the number of trucks on the road to lessen congestion, less pollution, and more reliable and efficient transport of goods. Fuel Tax Credit was similarly introduced in Australia to address some of these issues. It is now time to analyse the impact of these schemes. This paper is a systematic literature review using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. Findings include using alternative modes of transport for long distances reduces carbon dioxide and the likelihood of using renewable fuels like electric and hydrogen fuel for trucks. However, research was limited on renewable fuels.

Letteratura per l’infanzia e l’adolescenza dal/del Nord-Est Italia. Una analisi degli eco-assi da Salgari a Scarpa (1901–2021)

Over the last hundred years and since the Second World War at the speed of the Great Acceleration, the Anthropocene has been intensively impacting the Northeast of Italy and, as a result, redrawn the Triangolo Industriale, shifting it towards the East, whereby its two prior western cities – Turin and Genoa – have been replaced with the production hubs scattered along the Via Emilia and Veneto. The coastal region has seen the foundation and robust growth of Porto Marghera with its freight, metallurgy, chemical, mechanical, shipbuilding, oil and electricity sectors; the Veneto plain has witnessed an expansion of SMEs; and Emilia has become home to multinational corporations. While not subject to industrialisation, the mountains of the Triveneto have not been exempt from a thorough modernisation on the scale unparalleled in the Italian Alps. Considering these changes, this paper surveys a range of literary works from Salgari to Scarpa (via Albertazzi, Zavattini, Buzzati, Guerra, D’Arzo, Pratt, Malerba, Altan, Nanetti, Benni, Rigoni Stern, Molesini, Costa, Corona, Carminati, Sgardoli, Tamaro, Tessaro and Ervas) in order to establish what role is given to environmental issues by the authors of children’s literature in the Northeast and whether (dis)continuities emerge in the body of their writings in this respect. The paper also investigates which authors present an active sensitivity useful for fostering an eco-consciousness and in what ways they do so. The methodology combines an array of critical tools developed in eco-pedagogical criticism, ecofeminism and the NatCul Matrix, geared to answering a series of questions: (1) Is basic environmental literacy offered? (2) Is a critical reflection on human primacy and environmental (in)sustainability implicit, explicit or absent? (3) How are humanity and nature related in children’s literature? (4) How is eco-justice approached? (5) What attitudinal role does the narrative assign to nature?

Harnessing freight platforms to promote the penetration of long-haul heavy-duty hydrogen fuel-cell trucks

Long-haul heavy-duty freight sector has always been relying on diesel fuel and hard to decarbonize. Hydrogen fuel-cell trucks (HFCTs) can play a critical role in substituting the diesel trucks and achieving carbon neutrality in freight sector. However, the extremely high cost has impeded their penetration. This paper proposed that government could harness freight platform to promote HFCTs by issuing the platform licenses with strings attached that priority dispatch and commission discount have to be provided to HFCT drivers. To simulate the effects of the proposed policy instruments, an optimization model was developed and applied. The results validated the ability of both priority dispatch and commission discount to promote HFCTs’ penetration. And combining the two mechanisms together can at most decrease the need for subsidy by 79%. Then the environmental effects were evaluated and the obtained emissions abatement cost ranges from 584 to 3712 RMB/t, which significantly exceeds the current carbon price in China. Besides, sensitivity analyses of key parameters have been conducted. It is found that the effects on promoting HFCT penetration of increasing subsidy is marginal diminishing. Business model innovation as well as further cost reduction of trucks and hydrogen fuels through technology progress are still in need.

The indirect economic impact of rail freight transport: An input–output case study for Belgium

The modal share of rail freight transport has shown little movement during the past years, despite the policy efforts made. This raises the question if intermodality should be really considered a strength for rail freight transport development. In order to make a strong case for future development decisions on rail freight transport, this paper is studying its direct and indirect economic impact on the Belgian national economy. It adapts the existing input–output methodology by distilling the rail freight sector from the existing general combined ‘public and freight land transport sector’ within the national calculations of the Belgian input–output table, performed by the Federal Planning Office every five years. The methodology is developed by adopting a set of assumptions, necessary to overcome data limitations, and with the collection of relevant customer and supplier data from the largest Belgian rail freight operator, holding a market share of over 85%. The outcome of the research is an adapted input–output table with a detailed 'rail freight transport' sector, highlighting the different economic relationships with the original sectors of the national input–output table. It is no surprise that strong links with other transportation sectors exist. In addition, a Leontief multiplier is calculated, approximating the total economic effect in terms of monetary units, when the output demand in the investigated rail freight sector is increased by one of this monetary unit. The study reveals a potentially high total effect on the national economy.