Intermodal Terminals Research Articles

Dynamic approach to solve the daily drayage problem with transit time uncertainty

The intermodal transport chain can become more efficient by means of a good organization of drayage movements. Drayage in intermodal container terminals involves the pick up and delivery of containers at customer locations, and the main objective is normally the assignment of transportation tasks to the different vehicles, often with the presence of time windows. This scheduling has traditionally been done once a day and, under these conditions, any unexpected event could cause timetable delays. We propose to use the real-time knowledge about vehicle position to solve this problem, which permanently allows the planner to reassign tasks in case the problem conditions change. This exact knowledge of the position of the vehicles is possible due to the use of a geographic positioning system by satellite (GPS, Galileo, Glonass), and the results show that these additional data can be used to dynamically improve the solution.

A GIS-based analysis of the potential for freight villages in Turkey

Over the last decade, significant growth has been realised in the sector of the maritime container traffic in Turkey, but moving freight towards the hinterland by rail is still a major problem. In addition to the liberalisation of the Turkish State Railways and the national development plans towards enhancing transport network, intermodal terminals (freight villages) are also being constructed. Today, private initiatives have started to offer intermodal rail services between seaports and the inland terminals. An initial decision making problem in this setting is about the location of an intermodal terminal. The objective of this paper is to propose a geographic information system (GIS)-based location analysis model to analyse the Turkish intermodal terminal landscape. Taking transport price as the main modal choice variable, the model aims to minimise the total sum of transport prices and visualises the results using GIS maps. The model is used as a policy support tool to highlight intermodal transport potential and to demonstrate a vision on the future development of intermodal transport in Turkey.

HLA-based real time distributed simulation of a marine port for training purposes

The research proposes critical issues related to cooperative training in a synthetic environment based on a federation of simulators operating in the same virtual world. The authors propose a real-time distributed simulation called ST-VP (simulation team virtual port simulator), for training purposes that is able to take safety and operative efficiency also into account. The simulators, installed on low-cost training workstations, cooperate and share the same virtual environment based on the high level architecture standard for distributed simulation (HLA). With this approach, it is possible to apply distributed simulation to a relevant number of entities and proceed with low-cost training sessions in cooperative operations in intermodal terminals.

Strategic Rail Network Optimization Model for Freight Transportation

An optimization model for a rail freight network was developed as a support tool for planning and policy decisions involved in the improvement of rail networks on a regional and national level. The model was based on a strategic traffic assignment model, which was designed to model macronetworks with a high aggregation level, and was exclusively designed for freight traffic. The model contemplates road and rail transport modes and considers two types of cargo: intermodal cargo, which is generally transported in containers and is easily interchanged between different modes at intermodal terminals, and general cargo, which represents all the remaining cargo. The optimization process was based on a local search heuristic that delivers good solutions in a reasonable computing time. The quality of each network improvement solution was assessed on the basis of the reductions in total generalized costs and carbon dioxide emissions. This optimization model for a freight network is innovative because it is not limited: both the improvement of existing links and the construction of new ones are allowed, and the model does not have a limit on the number or variety of possibilities for network improvement. The adaptability to different conditions was emphasized when the model was applied to two networks under different investment scenarios because the model delivered considerably different solutions adapted to the conditions of each scenario.

Sustainable intermodal transport via dry ports - importance of directional development

As container transport volumes continue to grow, the sea flow generates almost proportional inland flow; the links with hinterland will become critical factors for the seaports functionality. Intermodal transport with dry ports could be a potential solution for seaport terminal congestion as well as for better seaport inland access that might be based on short haul rail. Intermodal transport is generally considered to be viable on markets with larger flows or longer distances; however, due to cost of congestion, growing environmental constraints, but also due to competition between seaports, the break-even distance for inland intermodal transport could be very market dependent. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to analyse effects of directional development of dry ports on sustainability of intermodal transport based on a short haul rail. Some of the studied ports in Australia and New Zealand, with their close intermodal terminals based on Outside-In model; show feasibility of intermodal transport with shorter break-even distances.

Ontology-based data access: An application to intermodal logistics

In this paper, we investigate ontology-based data access (OBDA) to build information systems whose purposes are (i) gathering data from a network of intermodal terminals, and (ii) computing performance indicators of the network. This application domain is characterized by large amounts of data and relatively simple data models, making it a natural challenge for logic-based knowledge representation and reasoning techniques. Considering relational database (RDB) technology as a yardstick, we show that careful engineering of OBDA can achieve RDB-like scalability even in demanding applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the potential of OBDA in a typical business-size application.

Spatial concentration and location dynamics in logistics: the case of a Dutch province

This paper analyzes location dynamics of logistics establishments in relation to spatial clustering. Such an analysis is relevant for both decision makers within logistics firms and regional policy makers, as co-located logistics establishments as well as society as a whole can benefit from co-location of logistics establishments. For this analysis, longitudinal empirical data on logistics establishments in a Dutch province are used. Six general conclusions are drawn on spatial concentration and location decisions of logistic firms. First, logistics employment spatially concentrates in particular areas, called Absolute and Relative Concentration areas (AREC areas). Second, larger logistics establishments locate relatively often in AREC areas. Third, logistics establishments that relocate within the province locate relatively more in AREC areas than in other areas, while new logistics establishments do not. Fourth, logistics establishments from AREC areas are more likely to relocate in AREC areas than establishments from non-AREC areas. Hence, experience matters in location decisions of logistics firms. Fifth, transport establishments locate relatively often in emerging AREC areas. Finally, data on employment growth show that intermodal container terminals attract logistics employment, in their direct vicinity as well as on a municipal level.

South Africa's domestic intermodal imperative

An integrated alternative to road only or rail only transport does not exist in South Africa for domestic freight. This is in spite of the fact that national freight logistics costs are high, road infrastructure is challenged and concern for the environmental impact of road transport is increasing. These factors have renewed interest in intermodal transport solutions, which are the focus of this article. The question is whether a viable domestic intermodal solution can be found through segmenting freight flows and developing a business case based on these segments. The research confirms that this is possible and the segmentation and subsequent business case is presented. The results demonstrate that building three intermodal terminals to connect the three major industrial hubs – Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town – through an intermodal solution could reduce transport costs (including externalities) for the identified 22.9milliontons of intermodal freight flows on the Cape and the Natal corridors by 64% (including externalities).

Um modelo de fluxos e localização de terminais intermodais para escoamento da soja brasileira destinada à exportação

A consideração de rotas intermodais pode ser vantajosa em diversas situações, como nos casos de escoamento de produtos agrícolas para exportação. Entretanto, a possibilidade de redução dos custos logísticos está condicionada à existência de instalações que permitam o transbordo de carga e a integração entre os modais disponíveis. Nesse contexto, propõe-se um modelo de fluxos e localização de terminais intermodais, com o objetivo de apoiar decisões de investimento em infraestrutura e de roteirização na rede. O modelo possui forte relação com problemas de p-medianas, sabidamente NP-difíceis. São considerados múltiplos níveis, em que cada nível corresponde ao fluxo entre dois terminais, e uma estrutura esparsa para representação da rede. Testes realizados com uma rede para exportação de soja baseada em dados secundários foram utilizados para verificar a coerência e ilustrar o potencial de análise do modelo, enquanto instâncias geradas aleatoriamente serviram para avaliar seu desempenho computacional utilizando-se dois softwares de otimização.

On Transport Service Selection in Intermodal Rail/Road Distribution Networks

AbstractIntermodal rail/road freight transport constitutes an alternative to long-haul road transport for the distribution of large volumes of goods. The paper introduces the intermodal transportation problem for the tactical planning of mode and service selection. In rail mode, shippers either book train capacity on a per-unit basis or charter block trains completely. Road mode is used for short-distance haulage to intermodal terminals and for direct shipments to customers. We analyze the competition of road and intermodal transportation with regard to freight consolidation and service cost on a model basis. The approach is applied to a distribution system of an industrial company serving customers in eastern Europe. The case study investigates the impact of transport cost and consolidation on the optimal modal split.

A model for the formation of colloidal structures in freight transportation: The case of hinterland terminals

An approach is presented to model the formation of spontaneously emerging associations of freight transport actors. Those agglomerations of logistics actors could be referred to as colloidal structures. The proposed approach combines insights from physics and economics. Typical logistics decisions are considered to be dynamic choices of consumers and providers resulting in temporally stable-market equilibria. The development of colloidal structures is driven by economies of scale on one hand and the preference for variety on the other hand. A case study with regards to intermodal terminals in Germany shows possible applications of the model for transport-policy analysis and planning.

Location Analysis Model for Belgian Intermodal Terminals: Importance of the value of time in the intermodal transport chain

Intermodal transport, the combination and integration of several transport modes, with the use of loading units, is in most cases more environmentally friendly than unimodal road transport for the carriage of goods. The LAMBIT-model (Location Analysis Model for Belgian Intermodal Terminals) has been developed to analyse the market areas of existing and potential intermodal terminals. In the LAMBIT model, barge/road and rail/road intermodal chains can be compared to unimodal road transport within Belgium. In this paper we show how to include, next to market prices, the value of time in the model and how to integrate other factors influencing the cost structure, such as the possibility to use the terminal as an empty depot and implications of the so-called backhaul problem and the distance of the post-haulage section. Different scenarios will be evaluated and compared to the reference scenario.

Example of Positioning Intermodal Terminals on Inland Waterways

Positioning of intermodal terminals is of key importance since it affects the very investment into the terminal, ecological, physical issues and the costs of the operation of individual terminals. Detailed analysis has to be performed by decision-making regarding the siting of intermodal terminals. The work analyzes the relevant criteria necessary for the siting of intermodal terminals. The problem of the proposed research is the structure of intermodal systems in the Republic of Croatia with the case study of inland waterways. The research and the study of the characteristics of intermodal terminals network on inland waterways should result in a concept of system reorganization, i.e. terminal planning methodology. By analysing relevant indicators according to the existing facts, and by using scientific methods and methodologies, the relevant criteria necessary to define the position and categories of intermodal terminals on inland waterways in the Republic of Croatia have been defined and evaluated on the examples of Sisak, Osijek, Vukovar and Slavonski Brod. KEY WORDS: intermodal terminal, intermodal transport, location criteria, inland waterways

Intermodal Passengers Terminals: Design Standards for Better Level of Service

Intermodality is an integral part of the sustainable mobility and its enhancement is of vital importance particularly, in high congested urban areas. The weak links in the overall Intermodal passenger transport chain are considered to be the Intermodal Terminals, as often inadequate planning leads to the reduction of the level of service of the means using the station, thus resulting in partial or total disdain for its users and the shift of the latter to other transport modes, mostly to private vehicles. Instead, an integrated design with emphasis on Intermodal Terminals which acts as the interface between the different modes not only increases the proportion of commuters who use urban public transport but also consolidates the overall public transport system of an urban area. Thus the main objective of this paper is to investigate how the provided level of service of passenger Intermodal facilities affects the commuters’ behavior regarding the modal choice. Towards this objective a categorization of the various terminals is attempted, considering their specific characteristics in terms of the means that they serve as well as the commuters that use them, in order to establish general design rules for each category. In this categorization all urban and suburban Intermodal public transport Terminals as well as Intermodal Terminals between means of public transport and private cars (Park and Ride facilities) were considered. Finally, a case study was executed based on a kind of a Revealed Preference Survey for the Intermodal Terminals of the city of Athens, in order to examine the impact of their operation on the number of interchanges between the various transport modes. The results of this study provide some useful points how a better organization of passenger Intermodal facilities affects the commuters’ behavior.

Development of Location Method for Urban Public Transit Networks Based on Hub-and-Spoke Network Structure

A location method is presented for an urban public transit (PT) network based on the hub-and-spoke network structure model. The proposed method integrates the PT lines with transfer hubs. PT lines fall into four major service levels: subway, bus rapid transport, bus, and feeder bus. The transfer hubs fall into three major categories: intermodal terminals, transfer centers, and transfer stations. Every level of PT line is located by connecting the different classes of transfer hubs. The optimization objectives, constraints, and procedures for PT line locations are present, and they vary by level of PT service. The design and implementation of the proposed method are illustrated by a case study for the city of Fuzhou, China. The proposed allocation method offers a new approach for increasing the PT level of service of a high-density city. The procedure for allocating PT lines is practical and maneuverable.

Relationship of Transportation Access and Connectivity to Local Economic Outcomes

Past research has shown that transportation system improvements can affect economic growth and productivity by changing access to markets and connectivity to intermodal terminals. However, most past research has adopted singular measures of market access and business productivity. This study demonstrates how various transportation projects can have larger or smaller impacts on business concentration and productivity by affecting different aspects of market access in areas with different business mixes. The study demonstrates these relationships through a two-step process. First, it defines seven types of access and connectivity measures, including access to labor markets, truck delivery markets, and intermodal terminals. The process then develops econometric models of the relationship between access and connectivity characteristics of local areas and relative levels of business productivity, job concentration, and export base. These relationships are estimated with simultaneous, nonlinear equations that allow access threshold effects to be recognized and for different relationships to apply for 54 industry sectors. The results confirm that different types of access are relevant to different industry sectors. As a consequence, the productivity and agglomeration of a given industry in a given area can be related to more than one dimension of accessibility. These results can have important implications for estimating the wider economic benefits of transportation investment and suggest the need to consider both industry detail and forms of accessibility in order to calculate accurately the relative impact of specific project proposals.

A Hybrid Heuristic Technique for Optimizing Intermodal Logistics Timed Transfer Systems

Increasing integration of intermodal transport resources is a useful approach toward achieving ‘Green Logistics,’ which can effectively improve the utilization of existing transportation infrastructure, increase system resiliency, reduce storage requirements, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption, and traffic congestion. We first develop an optimization model for coordinating vehicle schedules and cargo transfers at intermodal freight terminals, which is done primarily by optimizing coordinated service frequencies and slack times, while also considering loading and unloading, storage and cargo processing operations. The studied problem is formulated as a multi-hub multi-mode and multi-commodities network problem with nonlinear time value functions for shipped cargos. In order to solve the large-scale intermodal logistics timed transfer network problem, a hybrid technique combining sequential quadratic programming and genetic algorithms (GA-SQP) is developed in this study.

BE LOGIC: Benchmarking Logistics Chains

BE LOGIC is a European FP7 project which aims at benchmarking transport chains. For this purpose two tools have been developed:1. The Logistics Benchmarking Tool, to compare two alternative transport chains on six main criteria: time, cost, flexibility, reliability, quality and sustainability. The tool can be used to support companies, especially Small Medium Enterprises, to chose proper modes of transport and their combinations while aiming at improving their logistics sustainability performance2. The European Intermodal Route Finder (EIRF), enabling users to construct their own intermodal routes (direct terminal-terminal relations and indirect terminal relations using one transshipment terminal). The EIRF can best be compared to a public transport route planner or expedia.com for flights, but for containers instead. It offers the possibility to print intermodal route reports, providing the user with an overview of intermodal alternatives on a certain origin-destination relation (OD), including information on transit times, frequencies and modes used for each alternative that has been found in the database. The EIRF comprises around 800 intermodal terminals (including sea, inland waterways and rail) across the EU27 plus Norway and Switzerland. The route finder has been developed in MS Access for the stand alone version; a web version of the EIRF, based on SQL Server, is available at www.be-logic.info.In the period November 2010 - January 2011 both tools have been demonstrated and tested in real use cases. Based on the outcomes of the testing, preliminary recommendations have been made on the further development and exploitation of both tools. Since BE LOGIC ended in February 2011, the main question now is how to keep the tools alive and even further improve them. The paper will describe both tools in detail and the options to improve them along the recommendations made by the users.

COMPETENCE REQUIREMENT DETERMINATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN SUPPLY CHAINS

While production of products became more focused, activities at other location in supply chains are getting to be more complex, diverse. It means that work requires more competencies than before. This paper focuses on two issues of human resources: (1) Individual competence requirements in supply chains. There are more sources for identification competence need: determination from tasks, asking employers, national regulation of professional exams (learning outcome requirements), existing job descriptions. Authors give examples for all. Results show that general competencies have greater importance than it was expected. (2) Case studies available for training purposes in order to develop competencies. They present the related results of three EU projects. During NOVALOG project they redefined jobs, indentified competencies, worked out innovative training case studies. ITS-IT project resulted case studies on operation intermodal terminals. The presently running CENTRAL project updates NOVALOG’s results and go further when works out concrete training modules. Findings also give an overall picture of the dominant activities and tasks on different hierarchical levels and areas of supply chains in Hungary. Key words: case study, CENTRAL project, competencies, HR in logistics.

Sustainable freight transport in South Africa:Domestic intermodal solutions

Due to the rapid deregulation of freight transport in South Africa two decades ago, and low historical investment in rail (with resultant poor service delivery), an integrated alternative to road and rail competition was never developed. High national freight logistics costs, significant road infrastructure challenges and environmental impact concerns of a road-dominated freight transport market have, however, fuelled renewed interest in intermodal transport solutions. In this article, a high-level business case for domestic intermodal solutions in South Africa is presented. The results demonstrate that building three intermodal terminals to connect the three major industrial hubs (i.e. Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town) through an intermodal solution could reduce transport costs (including externalities) for the identified 11.5 million tons of intermodalfriendly freight flows on the Cape and Natal corridors by 42% (including externalities).