Ro-Ro Transportation Research Articles

Forecasting Ro-Ro Freight Transportation Demand at Samsun Port: A Hybrid Method Approach

ABSTRACT Türkiye's extensive coastline and geopolitics position necessitates the importance of Ro-Ro transportation with neighbouring countries. Türkiye's rapidly growing Ro-Ro transportation significantly contributes to imports and exports, which is of great importance to the national economy. Samsun Port is one of the most active ports in Türkiye's Ro-Ro transportation sector, operating in the Black Sea region. This study examined Ro-Ro transportation at Samsun Port, and future cargo forecasting was conducted. For this purpose, artificial neural networks and time series analysis methods were combined. Input variables used in the study included the number of Ro-Ro ships arriving at the port between 2009 and 2021, population figures, a specialized CPI indicator (fresh fruits and vegetables), and export values. The output variable was the amount of cargo carried by RoRo ships. According to the results obtained, it was observed that Samsun Port would have sufficient capacity for Ro-Ro transportation in the next 27 months in terms of wharf, port area, and operational space. Keywords: Samsun Port, Ro-Ro transportation, Port capacity, Forecasting

Strength Analysis of an Open Car Body with Honeycomb Elements during Ro-Ro Transportation

This article presents the determination of the bearing structure loads of an open car during ro-ro transportation. A special solution for an open car is the application of elastic, viscous honeycomb panels in the frame. This engineering solution can decrease the load of the bearing structure of an open car during interactions with multiple-use lashing devices. This article presents the mathematic modelling of the dynamic load of an open car during ro-ro transportation. This calculation is based on the most popular load diagrams for the bearing structure of an open car applied for sea transportation, namely the rolling motion and the turning motion of a train ferry approaching a dock. It was found that the application of honeycomb panels can decrease the dynamic load of a rail car in comparison to a standard structure by about 25%. The results of the strength calculation of the bearing structure of an open car demonstrated that the maximum equivalent stresses do not exceed the allowable values and are 30% lower than the stresses that emerging in the standard structure. The conducted research can be used by engineers who are concerned about safe and environmentally friendly transportation via train ferries and more efficient ro-ro transportation.

Fleet Optimization in Ro-Ro Transportation: A Case Study from Türkiye

Fleet Optimization in Ro-Ro Transportation: A Case Study from Türkiye

Optimizing storage location assignment in an automotive Ro-Ro terminal

Automotive roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) transportation is an efficient and competitive method for the large-scale transshipment of commercial cars. However, the low-efficiency operations and insufficient storage resources of automotive Ro-Ro terminals have constrained the development of Ro-Ro transportation. This paper investigates the storage location assignment problem (SLAP) for the arrival of cars at the yard, and it aims to improve the ship-loading efficiency and contribute to efficient storage at Ro-Ro terminals. Two deadlock situations resulting from blocked routes are analyzed in detail. Based on the Ro-Ro ship stowage plan, a car group concept is proposed to reflect the loading sequence of cars into a Ro-Ro ship. The dispersion degree is defined to describe the centralized layout of every car group in the yard. A linear 0-1 integer programming model is formulated to minimize the total dispersion degrees of all car groups. Furthermore, an indicator called the attraction degree is presented to quantify the preferred degree of each location for storing different groups of cars. A hierarchical two-stage exchange strategy (HTSES) is designed to obtain the car layout with the minimum total dispersion degree. To reduce the scale of the solved problem, a rolling-horizon heuristic approach based on closed-loop (positive and negative) feedback is proposed. Positive feedback based on the guidance mechanism describes the guidance provided by the existing car layout to arriving cars, while negative feedback based on the reformulation mechanism represents the influence of arriving cars on the car layout. A series of numerical experiments show that the proposed method can effectively produce a satisfactory car assignment plan for the management of automotive Ro-Ro terminals.

INTERMODAL CARGO TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES ON FERRIES: A MODERN ASPECT

The article provides the concept of intermodal technology, considers ferry types and their advantages and disadvantages; describes the material and technical base of cargo transportation on ferries, design features of ferries, the technology for loading, transporting and unloading of wagons and cars. Reducing the transportation distance and cargo operations time make it possible to increase cargo transportation efficiency on ferries in comparison with transportation of the same cargo with numerous transshipments from one transport type to another. The history of ferry lines development in Russia and abroad emphasizes the importance of type of transportation. In Russia, the history of cargo transportation on ferries is considered to be from the end of the XIX century. There were five ferry lines operating in the former USSR. The article considers such lines as the Kerch line between the Crimea and the Caucasus and the Vanino – Kholmsk line through the Tatar Strait. The development of cargo transportation in the post-Soviet period in the Baltic and Caspian basins is considered in detail. The table shows an analysis of the cargo transshipment volume carried by ferries in the main sea basins of Russia. The history of ferry lines development in Europe began in the middle of the ХIХ century in Scotland and Ireland. The greatest development of ro-ro cargo transportation was achieved in the countries of the Baltic basin. Such transportation is also being developed in Japan, the United States and other countries.

A Two-Phase Stowage Approach for Passenger-Cargo RoRo Ship Based on 2D-KP: Coping With Complex Rotation and Safe Navigation Constraints

The passenger-cargo Roll on/Roll off ship stowage (PRSS) is the core step of passenger-cargo Roll on/Roll off (RoRo) transportation. The layout of vehicles in the cabin is directly related to the space utilization of the cabin and the efficiency of stowage operations, which in turn affects the economic benefits of the port. In this paper, we address the PRSS problem in the context of passenger-cargo RoRo transportation in the Qiongzhou Strait of China. By focusing on the utilization ratio of the cabin area, the PRSS problem can be viewed as a special version of a two-dimensional knapsack packing (2D-KP) problem with additional constraints, such as two-phase, complex rotation and safe navigation constraints. Then we present a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) mathematical model and an algorithm framework to tackle the PRSS problem. In the algorithm framework, a novel multi-phase heuristic stowage method is proposed to improve the current manual stowage decision-making state which completely depends on operational experience. Finally, several instances are generated based on the realistic date of Qiongzhou Strait to verify the effectiveness of the model and stowage method. Computational results show that the proposed model and stowage method are well suited to solve the PRSS problem and the algorithm framework has a strong robustness in large-scale application experiments.

A Study on Activation Strategy of International Intermodal Transport Network in Korea / Japan - Focusing on RO-RO Transportation ＆ Logistics System -

A Study on Activation Strategy of International Intermodal Transport Network in Korea / Japan - Focusing on RO-RO Transportation ＆ Logistics System -

Application of BP Neutral Network and Genetic Algorithm

Ro-Ro transportation refers to a way of maritime transportation that uses Ro-Ro to bring goods and shipment together. Developments of Ro-Ro transport at home and abroad are outlined, and development process of China's Ro-Ro transport is reviewed. The development and status of Ro-Ro transport of Yangtze River are analyzed in detail. Based on survey research, due to the change of road structure of Yangtze River region, the survival and development of Yangtze River Ro-Ro transport are faced with serious threats. It is imperative to forecast the future freight volume of Yangtze River Ro-Ro transport with assured accuracy, and generate strategies to ensure the healthy development of Yangtze River Ro-Ro transport. This paper adopts the GABP (Genetic-BP Neural Network) model to forecast the freight volume of Yangtze River Ro-Ro transport. Comparative data is used to ensure the accuracy of the model, which solves the imbal- ances of traffic and capacity.

Ro-Ro Turn Dam Coal Transportation Scheme Selection Based on SEM

Ro-ro turn dam transportation has advantages of easy to assemble and unassembled, low cost, large capacity, etc. It plays a positive role in relieving the existing pressure of coal transportation, therefore, it is necessary to research the Ro-ro transportation schemes. This paper takes Yanjia-Tian'e line for example, proposed 27 parking spaces, 32 parking spaces, 38 parking spaces, 59 parking spaces and 250t self-propelled shipping for a total of five schemes. It establishes the evaluation index system, do correlation analysis to the data of the questionnaire, analysis of the evaluation factor by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Conclusion shows that 59 parking spaces is the optimal solution.

Analysis and Suggestions for the Development of Vehicle Ro-Ro Transportation in the Chuanjiang River<sup></sup>

The Truck Ro-Ro transportation in the Chuanjiang river, following its first10 years' rapid development, is facing the external competition from coastal expressway and railway freight transportation and experiencing the internal challenge of changing the shipping modes. Ro-Ro transportation enterprises should take full advantage of the macro policy of the overall scheme of Yangtze river gold waterway construction during the 10th five-year period and grasp the opportunity to make further research on the shipping modes and the scientific distribution of transport capacity of Ro-Ro ships so as to make the transformation of transport mods in time and promote its sustainable development.

Study on the Sustainable Development of Vehicle Ro-Ro Transportation in the Three-Gorge Reservoir

The Truck Ro-Ro transportation in the Three-Gorge Reservoir in the Yangtze river, following its first10 years' rapid development, is facing the external competition from coastal expressway and railway freight transportation and experiencing the internal challenge of changing the shipping organization. Ro-Ro transportation enterprises should take full advantage of the macro policy of the overall scheme of Yangtze river gold waterway construction during the "1025" period, concentrate on the development of automobile Ro-Ro shipping route for Ro-Ro hanging transportation, transportation of heavy loads and dangers goods, make the transformation of transport mods in time and promote its sustainable development.

Adopting ro-ro transportation in inland China: a decision criteria survey of shippers, forwarders, and haulers

China’s western inland has experienced rapid economic development during the past two decades. One possible solution for firms in this area to meet cost reduction challenges is the increased use of roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) practices as part of their intermodal transportation strategies. This study focuses on customer adoption of ro-ro transportation between two major hubs, Chongqing and Wuhan, on the Yangtze River. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, the study examined the determinants on ro-ro transportation choices made by shippers, forwarders, and haulers in Western China. The research discovered that customers use comprehensive consideration sets when considering transportation choices. Four major aspects of determinants were revealed: cost reduction, transportation lead-time, convenience, and safety issues. It was also discovered that priorities change among different types of customers. Implications for developing effective alternative transportation strategies in developing countries such as China are provided.

Fleet deployment in liner shipping: a case study

The fleet deployment problem is an important planning problem in liner shipping. It deals with optimally assigning voyages to available vessels in the fleet and determining vessel routes and schedules in a way that minimizes costs or maximizes profit. This paper presents a new model for a fleet deployment problem in liner shipping, and we also propose a multi-start local search heuristic to solve the problem. The heuristic has been embedded in a prototype decision support system (DSS) that has been implemented and tested at Höegh Autoliners, a major global provider of ro-ro (roll-on roll-off) vehicle transportation services. The heuristic was able to produce high-quality solutions within a few minutes to a real planning problem with more than 55 vessels and 150 voyages over a planning horizon of 4–6 months. Tests indicated that the solutions suggested by the DSS gave between 2 and 10% improvements compared with solutions from manual planning. What is almost equally important is that using the DSS can ease the planning process.

The Future Development of China Commercial Automobile Water Ro-Ro Transportation Market

Water Ro-Ro transportation becomes more and more important in China commercial automobile transportation market. The potential market is considerable. The fast development of China automobile industry brings about sufficient market space. The transportation characteristics and the evident location advantages contribute a lot to its further development. Confronting with such a marvelous market opportunity, China water transportation enterprises should focus on continuous innovation, providing with overall logistics services for automobile logistics, pushing the development of China commercial automobile Ro-Ro transportation market.

Alternative operational policies in short sea Ro-Ro transportation systems

This paper highlights the efect of several operating parameters that influence the short sea Ro-Ro transportation system. In view of the fact that many of the operating factors exhibit random variations a simulation model is constructed, the output of which is used for a simple economic model. The results for different alternatives are examined taking RFR as the basis of comparison. Optimum solutions are found whenever possible. Some general conclusions on the relative economic superiority of the operating alternatives have been drawn. It is expected that the results and essentially the technique itself would be useful to designers, owners and operators of Ro-Ro ships and manufacturers of Ro-Ro equipment.