Mumbai lunch box delivery system: A transferable benchmark in urban logistics?

This paper presents findings of a freight transport study carried out for Mumbai city (India). Based on the case study of lunch box delivery system organized by the Mumbai dabbawalas, demonstrated that an informal sector was capable of developing an urban logistics system that was precise, reliable and affordable to the middle class society in Mumbai. These facts suggest an approach based on adapting logistics solutions harmoniously to the urban landscape, public policy, infrastructure and skill sets of the company’s employees in order to be attractive to the end customer, offering a good match between supply and demand i.e., consumer and producer satisfaction. At the same time logistics solutions should evolve continuously in order to be attractive to the core customer base and should be customer driven. These basic management principles can be applied in the management of other urban logistics companies in the world over.     

A nested logit model of mode choice for inland movement of export shipments: A case study of containerised export cargo from India

Predominance of containerised mode of transport for export of general cargo has influenced the mode choices on the inland segment. Prior to containerisation the general cargo for export moved to ports invariably on road in break bulk form. Growth of containerisation led to development of inland terminals enabling an exporter to obtain export clearance at the inland points. This process facilitated an exporter to move cargo either in break bulk or in containerised form, and as inland terminals facilitated aggregation an exporter could move cargo either by road or rail. Thus containerisation increased the inland transport options for an exporter from one to three. The paper develops discrete choice models in the Indian context for inland movement of containerised export cargo. Primary data was collected from 124 export firms through a structured questionnaire. This data is supplemented with data from transport firms and terminal operators. Using the above data, a nested logit model with rail container and road truck in one branch was found to predict the mode choice behaviour best. Amongst the transport attributes, total cost and total transit time were found to be influencing the mode choices significantly. The study however did not find the effect of reliability and loss and damage significant. In addition, the model also predicts that non transport attributes - like the percentage of letters of credit that materialise with inland way bills and the value of export benefits that materialise after export - are important in the mode choice decision.     

Maritime logistics as an emerging discipline

The evolution of maritime logistics as an emerging discipline has resulted, to a large extent, from the increasing and varied demands of shippers and customers and the rapidly changing role of ports in the context of supply and logistics chains. Scholars are becoming increasingly aware of the need to integrate logistics and supply chain management concepts in the maritime transportation chain and operations. This article aims to provide a review and foundation for understanding the domain of maritime logistics and to assess its potential as an emerging discipline. To do so, a framework for understanding the various aspects of maritime logistics strategy and implementation is developed. A synthesis of the existing knowledge on maritime logistics is done by integrating diverse explorations forming the basis of this framework. We draw upon the literature on maritime transport and ports and primarily theliterature that analyses concepts by adopting an economic or management perspective.     

A dynamic model for marginal cost pricing of port infrastructures

ABSTRACT

A dynamic model for marginal cost pricing of port infrastructures links costs to system performance by combining a power-law function with time-dependent queueing analysis. Additionally, the model incorporates the marginal cost of capacity, including the effects of economies of scale. This allows the calculation of the marginal cost price under a dynamic framework. The model accounts for nonlinear behaviour of port demand, which is sensitive to price and service levels. The effects over time of cost and service levels on the port’s operational performance are quantified. The proposed model allows determining the optimal timing for capacity investment. The model is a starting point for the application of marginal cost pricing to ports. However, for practical application of such pricing method it is necessary to apply a system’s approach, as productivity and costs must be assessed at the terminal’s component level. This should allow the derivation of a marginal cost function at the terminal’s component level.     

A Training Framework for Understanding Conflict in the Coastal Zone

The coastal zone is attractive for human settlement because it tends to be resource rich, providing a good location to generate incomes and livelihoods. Equally, however, it is a complex and powerful natural environment, which means that the coastal zone often becomes a focus of conflict with multiple users competing for limited space and resources. Understanding the causes of, and determining solutions to, the ensuing problems requires inputs from a range of analyses across sectors and disciplines. However, different disciplinary and sectoral approaches frequently use different investigative methods, language, and means of presenting results. This article presents a framework that has been developed in collaboration with Indian institutions over the past three years in an effort to address some of these fundamental problems of analysis and translation into policy action. Key components addressed by the framework are strengthening the capacity to practice, knowing how to proceed and how to find out what needs to be known using experience-based problem solving.     

Synergies between Adjacent Beach-Nourishing Communities in a Morpho-Economic Coupled Coastline Model

Beach “nourishment” consists of placing sand on an eroding beach. The widened beach provides increased storm protection to adjacent structures and improved recreational benefits, but is most often transient, requiring on-going, repeated nourishment episodes. Numerical models of beach nourishment typically address such questions as how long a widened beach will last; economic models compare the benefits and costs of preserving a stretch of beach without regard to its geomorphic evolution. Neither have addressed the physical nor economic interactions between adjacent nourishing communities. Here, we couple a numerical model of coastline evolution and a cost-benefit model of beach nourishment, allowing adjacent communities to make dynamic nourishment decisions. Beach nourishment benefits adjacent communities both “updrift” and “downdrift.” The total amount of money spent on nourishment activities can decrease by as much as 25% when adjacent communities both conduct on-going nourishment projects, as opposed to the case where each community nourishes in isolation.     

矩形槽道采用不同冷却介质的传热与阻力特性分析(英文)

Several industrial applications such as electronic devices,heat exchangers,gas turbine blades,etc.need cooling processes.The internal cooling technique is proper for some applications.In the present work,computational simulations were made using ANSYS CFX to predict the improvements of internal heat transfer in the rectangular ribbed channel using different coolants.Several coolants such as air,steam,air/mist and steam/mist were investigated.The shear stress transport model(SST)is selected by comparing the standard k-ωand Omega Reynolds Stress(ωRS)turbulence models with experimental results.The results indicate that the heat transfer coefficients are enhanced in the ribbed channel while injecting small amounts of mist.The heat transfer coefficients of air/mist,steam and steam/mist increase by 12.5%,49.5%and 107%over that of air,respectively.Furthermore,in comparison to air,the air/mist heat transfer coefficient enhances by about 1.05 to 1.14 times when the mist mass fraction increases from 2%to 8%,respectively.The steam/mist heat transfer coefficient increases by about 1.12 to 1.27 times higher than that of steam over the considered range of mist mass fraction.     

Generation of cyclonic eddies in the Eastern Gotland Basin of the Baltic Sea following dense water inflows: numerical experiments

A sigma (σ)-coordinate ocean model by Blumberg and Mellor (POM) is applied to study the formation processes of mesoscale cyclones observed in the Eastern Gotland Basin following the dense water inflows. The initial conditions simulate a situation when the Arkona and Bornholm basins and partially the Slupsk Furrow are already filled with the inflow water of the North Sea origin, while the Eastern Gotland and Gdansk basins still contain the old water of pre-inflow stratification. Model runs with constant and time-dependent winds, changing the buoyancy forcing, grid geometry and bottom topography display the following. Entering the Eastern Gotland Basin from the Slupsk Furrow, the bottom intrusion of saline inflow water splits in two: one goes northeast towards the Gotland Deep, and second moves southeast towards the Gulf of Gdansk. An intensive mesoscale cyclonic eddy carrying the inflow water is generated just east of the Slupsk Furrow with the inflow pulse. A number of smaller cyclones with boluses of the inflow water are formed in the permanent halocline along the saline intrusion pathway to the Gotland Deep. Following Spall and Price [J. Phys. Oceanogr. 28 (1998) 1598], the cyclones are suggested to form by the adjustment of the high potential vorticity inflow water column to a low potential vorticity environment.     

Second-order perturbation added mass fluctuation on vertical vibration of tension leg platforms

Total motion in waves can be considered as a superposition of the motion of the body in still water and the forces on the restrained body. In this study the effect of added mass fluctuation on vertical vibration of tension leg platforms (TLP) in the case of vibration in still water for both free and forced vibration subjected to axial load at the top of the leg is presented. This effect is more important when the amplitude of vibration is large. Also this is important in fatigue life study of tethers. The structural model used here is very simple. Perturbation method is used to formulate and solve the problem. First- and second-order perturbations are used to solve the free and forced vibrations, respectively.     

Estimation of wave-induced ship hull bending moment from ship motion measurements

A time-domain technique for estimating wave-induced ship hull bending moment from ship motion measurements is presented. This technique is developed to improve hull response monitoring systems. Artificial neural networks are used to model the time-domain relationship between the wave-induced vertical bending moment and the coupled heave and pitch motions. The application of the proposed technique is validated using experimental data.