From piggyback to double-stack intermodalism

Intermodal transportation has been growing at a fast pace thanks to the development of double-stack trains, deregulation of US domestic transportation and intensified competition in the liner trade. Its growth has been supported by import traffic in the recent past but will have to rely much more on domestic cargo in the future. Effective marketing rather than hardware development will pose the primary challenge to intermodal transportation. To meet this challenge, rail, highway and ocean carriers will have to rethink their business philosophy and realign themselves for more efficient provision of intermodal services. The traditional division between international and domestic intermodal operation has become obsolete.     

Intermodal land transportation systems and port choice,an analysis of stated choices among shippers in the Rhine–Scheldt delta

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the research concentrates on the intermodal land transportation systems which link Antwerp and Rotterdam with a shared hinterland in the long and medium distance range. It uses a choice-based experiment which has been calibrated on the basis of real case studies to understand shipper’s choices between end-to-end chains. The stated choices reveal shippers’ preferences when needing to choose between two logistic pathways, which employ a similar multimodal composition of transport modes to bring the container from door-to-door, but which route the container differently through alternative maritime gateways. The study therefore touches upon the topic of port competition applying a value-driven supply chain approach. Despite narrow differences on the main performance criteria of the door-to-door chains, the empirical analysis proves that shippers are not loyal to one of the ports, but give preference to the lowest cost solution. Enhancing the frequency levels of the inland transportation solution is only at the benefit of the more costly chain. The findings reiterate the importance of intermodal land transport systems in the competition between load centres.     

On the beaten track: a view of US West-Coast container port competition

More than a century ago far-sighted railroad builders and steamship operators were seeking the shortest intermodal itineraries between the eastern United States and the Orient. A combination of locational fact and the factual outcomes of 19th century railroad building left Chicago roughly equidistant in railway mileage from what became the four great US West-Coast port complexes in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle regions. Their nearly equivalent rail access to Chicago and points east has renewed significance in the container era.

This paper concerns the efforts of US Pacific seaboard ports to stay 'on the beaten track' with respect to container shipments between Asia and the eastern United States. The West-Coast ports are transit points dividing the transcontinental and transoceanic segments of long intercontinental journeys. From origins to destinations there are, in fact, many possibly feasible itineraries, including all-water routes.

The West-Coast ports have considerable control over their own site improvements. On the other hand, with respect to transiting container traffic, the ports may influence, but are unlikely to control, their own situations. Since the major container port facilities are very often on long-term lease to large intermodal carriers, the latter are making the important shipping and routeing decisions. The carriers tend in fact to set the tone and level of port competition.

What is the nature of the competition between container ports? Is it a figment of the publicist's imagination and perpetuated by irrelevant statistical boasting? Is it perhaps something forced on the ports by carriers eager to play one port off against another in a 'lowest bid' game? At what geographical scale might port competition be most useful or, maybe, least wasteful?     

Intermodal route selection for cargo transportation from Korea to Central Asia by adopting Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy ELECTRE I methods

Due to the increase in trade from Korea to Central Asia, an efficient intermodal route for transporting cargo is important. Intermodal routing for long-distance transportation faces operational challenges, such as customs clearance, track gauge differences, and climate limitations. The initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt recently proposed in China could improve trade and transport links in Asia and create an efficient transportation route that focuses on the railroad service provided in China. The objective of this study is to obtain an evaluation structure for intermodal routing and then find the route for transporting cargo from Korea to Central Asia under China’s Silk Road Economic Belt with integrated Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy (Elimination Et Choice Translating Reality (ELECTRE) I methods. After a sensitivity analysis is performed, development strategies and alternative routes are suggested. The results show that among the five principal factors, total cost is the most important factor for logistics companies when they select a transportation route, followed by reliability, transportation capability, total time, and security. Of the sub-factor weights, transportation costs and cooperation and emphasis among state organization are important. In the intermodal route results, route 3, Incheon to Qingdao to Horgos to Almaty, is preferred.     

Foldable container in empty container repositioning in intermodal transportation network of Belt and Road Initiative: strengths and limitations

In 2013, the concept of the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road)’ was initiated by the Chinese government, which involves Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas. Logistics plays a core role in such a large framework of economy and trade. In recent years, China, European Union, and Southeast Asia pay much attention to the design and development of the intermodal transportation network towards both economic and environmental efficiency. In this paper, we propose an empty container repositioning model in the intermodal transportation network of Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative by considering both standard and foldable containers. In this model, empty containers are repositioned from the inland of the original area, such as China, to other areas of B&R Initiative related countries and regions, such as European Union and Southeast Asia. We develop a mixed integer linear programming model to determine the optimal repositioning of empty containers via the intermodal transportation network. An Artificial Bee Colony algorithm is developed to solve large size problems in practice and numerical experiments are conducted to show the efficiency of our proposed algorithm. We provide managerial insights regarding the impact on the network performance of foldable containers transportation.     

Current publications

Despite the European Union (EU) efforts promoting policies that encourage short sea shipping (SSS) based on its advantages in terms of intermodality and environment, this mode has not yet reached a significant market share compared to land transport. In this paper, we establish a thesis that suggests that funding programs (such as Marco Polo I and II) have not properly offered the right incentives to promote SSS, and aspects such as the key role of port infrastructure and its characteristics, have not been taken into consideration. In a departure from traditional transport cost models, to prove our thesis, we use a theoretical intermodal competition model to compare alternative modes—road transport vs. SSS. We reach the conclusion that the EU needs to focus on ports and transport system efficiency as a whole in order to compete effectively in the freight transport market.     

Port privatization under Cournot vs. Bertrand competition: a third-market approach

By incorporating port competition into a third-market model consisting of two exporting firms and one importing country, we demonstrate the endogenous choice of port structures (i.e. privatization or public ownership) under either Bertrand or Cournot competition. In contrast to previous studies on port competition, we analyze the port strategy in view of all trading countries (i.e. importing country and exporting countries). We find that regardless of transport cost, the port ownership strategy alters according to exporting firm’s competition mode. Under Bertrand competition, the choice of port ownership structure depends on the degree of imperfect substitutability. However, under Cournot competition, all trading countries choose same ownership structures of each port. By comparing equilibrium of each competition mode, we show that welfare of exporting country under Cournot competition is higher than under Bertrand competition if goods are sufficiently substitutes. In contrast, importing country prefers Bertrand competition to Cournot competition when the competitive pressure is sufficiently high.     

A multi-criteria decision method for the analysis of the Motorways of the Sea: the application to the case of France and Spain on the Atlantic Coast

Despite European Union (EU) political support to identify the most feasible Motorways of the Sea, the final decision can only be made by Private Shipping Companies, which are operators of a unique stretch of the intermodal chain. This paper provides a multi-criteria decision method to identify the most suitable Motorways of the Sea taking into account the competitiveness of whole intermodal routes versus the alternative of road transport from the loader’s perspective. The analysis is carried out assuming a ‘many-to-many’ transport model. Firstly indexes of time and cost were defined and evaluated for every available route in the model in accordance with a multi-criteria decision matrix. Secondly, through a Monte Carlo simulation a sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to evaluate the influence on the results of the forecast assumed to construct the matrix. The results obtained are not only quantitative, but also qualitative. The development of intermodal routes via Motorways of the Sea is especially relevant for the peripheral EU countries. Due to the relevance of the freight flow between France and Spain and the congestion of their connections through the Pyrenees, the method proposed was applied to the analysis of this particular case     

Offshore Petroleum Development and Potential

This article examines the uncertainties concerning the antiturst immunity for collective participation by liner conferences in intermodal transporation. Among them are the FMC's jurisdiction under the Shipping Act to authorize such collective actions, the legality of intermodal dual-rate contracts and the stringency by lsquo;public-interestrsquo; justification. Administrative and judicial decisions proved ineffective in resolving the issues which legislative actions had, over a decade, failed to deal with. These uncertainties could soon be ended with passage of the maritime antiturst polity emerging out of this Congress. It is, however, still uncertain as to whether, and to what extent, the viabilty of the conference system would be threatened by the continued growth of intermodalism and vice versa. Congressional intent to safeguard the continued growth of intermodalism and the development of other future innovations means that these two issues are of more than just academic interests. Yet, they have not been adequately addressed in the policy studies currently available.     

US antitrust policy and liner conferences in the age of intermodalism

This article examines the uncertainties concerning the antiturst immunity for collective participation by liner conferences in intermodal transporation. Among them are the FMC's jurisdiction under the Shipping Act to authorize such collective actions, the legality of intermodal dual-rate contracts and the stringency by lsquo;public-interestrsquo; justification. Administrative and judicial decisions proved ineffective in resolving the issues which legislative actions had, over a decade, failed to deal with. These uncertainties could soon be ended with passage of the maritime antiturst polity emerging out of this Congress. It is, however, still uncertain as to whether, and to what extent, the viabilty of the conference system would be threatened by the continued growth of intermodalism and vice versa. Congressional intent to safeguard the continued growth of intermodalism and the development of other future innovations means that these two issues are of more than just academic interests. Yet, they have not been adequately addressed in the policy studies currently available.     

长江流域国际集装箱多式联运信息系统研究

通过大量调查研究和数据分析，阐述了长江流域国际集装箱多式联运以及EDI系统的发展现状，指出目前存在的问题，并提出若干建议。     

How do ocean carriers organize the empty containers reposition activity in the USA?

The routing of empty containers is an unavoidable activity of the intermodal chain. In fact, import containers that arrive at a national port are sent toward a multiplicity of interior destinations. Then the empty containers must return to a port to accomplish an export voyage. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the organizational choice of ocean carriers to reposition their empty containers in the USA. Ocean carriers have four options to relocate their empty containers: the spot organization and the adoption of three different renewable contracts to frame the externalization. How do ocean carriers choose their organization form to relocate their empty containers?     

On—off terminal vessel-to-rail intermodal transfer and the case of Long Beach Port

The vessel-to-rail intermodal transfer of containers can be performed either within the marine terminal, called on-terminal or outside the marine terminals, called off-terminal. The off-terminal is the common way of rail loading, whereby the marine containers are combined with other, non-maritime containers to achieve greater utilization of yard and rail equipment. The non-terminal transfer, a novelty in US ports, is perceived to be advantageous since it saves on drayage (i.e. haulage) and handling of rail-bound boxes. However, on-terminal has many inherent problems the most critical of them being use of scarce waterfront land, ineffectiveness in mixing international and domestic containers, and large investments required to construct yards and rail accesses. The following article presents a discussion of various aspects of the intermodal, on/off terminal rail-to-vessel alternatives, illustrated by a case study taken from the Port of Long Beach, California.     

超能力运行下港区内集装箱码头的博弈*

以上海外高桥港区集装箱码头为背景,构建超能力运行下同一港区内不同集装箱码头之间的博弈模型,通过逆向归纳法分析求解均衡收费和联盟利润,研究发现:与竞争博弈相比,集装箱码头联盟方都能收取相同并且较高的码头费用,其中部分联盟时联盟方的市场份额均为下降,而非联盟方的均衡收费、市场份额和利润均呈增加趋势。与完全联盟相比,部分联盟时联盟方收取的码头费用、市场份额和联盟利润皆为下降;非联盟方的均衡收费和利润也大幅降低,但市场份额却大幅增加,即同一港区集装箱码头博弈中真正的赢家是非联盟集装箱码头。     

Rail and multi-modal transport

This paper elaborates on the definitions of inter and multi-modal transport, as well as their differences in terms of performance. A survey of the barriers, both internal and external, to an efficient intermodal transport is included followed by an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of combining rail transport with the other transport modes. Transhipment technologies for efficient freight service and some examples of freight rail corridors between sea and inland terminals are presented. The integration between air and rail transport is discussed and the potential synergies between air and high-speed rail services are emphasised. The paper concludes with a discussion on energy use for sustainable rail performance.     

欧洲集装箱内河运输经验借鉴

随着全球和区域经济网络的形成和发展,内河集装箱运输得到了迅猛发展,人们日趋认识到内河集装箱运输在集装箱多式联运体系中的重要价值和未来持续增长的潜力。为此,以欧洲集装箱内河运输经验为借鉴,对集装箱内河运输模式进行了分析,内容包括:内河集装箱发展演变特点、给予政府层面的集装箱内河运输推进模式等,在此基础上,对我国的内河集装箱运输,提出了若干建议。     

Evolving competition between Hong Kong and Shenzhen ports

Shenzhen Port (SZP), once a negligible local port, has risen dramatically to a world-leading container port and an “equal” player with Hong Kong Port (HKP). Will this market share reallocation continue, or will equilibrium be eventually realized for HKP to prosper continuously? We examine the relationship between these two ports to answer this question. We propose a new transformation method to describe the growth of container cargo transport demand, define the quantitative measures of the competition relationship and port competitiveness, and present a rigorous analytical framework with econometric tests and models to understand the true relationship between HKP and SZP. Direct empirical tests suggest that SZP complements HKP; however, the two ports exhibit strong competition when the effect of demand growth is excluded. Considering transshipment separately, we find that the impact of SZP on HKP is negative in transshipment but complementary in direct shipment. We may conclude that HKP does not affect SZP, whereas SZP has competitive power over HKP. These results are consistent with the findings of some previous theoretical studies.     

基于博弈论的船舶超载治理分析

文中基于博弈论原理,从海事管理部门和船方两个责任主体利益出发,构建了双方博弈模型,通过模型的求解与均衡分析得到影响主体决策的因素,最后选取治超数据进行计算,得出超载船舶的纳什均衡数值区间     

调整涡轮通流特性提高增压机组与增压锅炉热力匹配性能

根据涡轮增压机组与增压锅炉匹配工作的基本原理,考虑两者之间存在的热平衡关系、压力平衡关系,以及配合约束边界条件,建立研究两者匹配工作特性的热力平衡计算模型,提出一种迭代求解计算方法。基于计算与测试数据的对比分析,证明建立模型的正确性和有效性。在此基础上,针对机组的联合工作线靠近压气机堵塞区域,可能影响机组满负荷长期工作性能,提出通过调整涡轮的通流特性以优化两者的热力匹配。计算结果表明,涡轮通流能力减小5%时,压气机工作线远离堵塞区域,效率得到提高,使涡轮做功能力增强,辅助汽轮机蒸汽消耗量减少30%,提高了两者的热力匹配性能。