Testing port choice models using physical and monetary data: a comparative case study for the Spanish container trades

ABSTRACT

Transport costs are useful explanatory variables in port choice research. Nevertheless, the availability of such information usually poses a problem. Thus, the formulation of an alternative approach, to be used as a proxy of these variables, would be desirable. The objective of this study is to improve the analysis of container port choice using logit models by adopting physical non-monetary indicators based on maritime distance and ship size. The statistical tests of logit models on port choice using these new variables are compared with the result of using cost variables for the same data set of choice positions. The statistical outcome is good and allows us to present this new approach as a contribution to the literature on port choice modeling.     

Automated shunting of rail container wagons in ports and terminal areas

The development of intermodal container transport is hampered in part by the cost associated with the shunting of trains in marshalling yards, inland and port railway terminals. Many new technologies have been developed in the past decade, but have still not been applied because of high capital investment costs, lack of sufficient market demand and uncertain rates of return. The key for increasing the competitiveness of intermodal container transport by rail is the operation of heavy haul container trains between port and inland railway terminals more frequently with fast, flexible and automatic transhipment, shunting and coupling of container wagons. The operation of self-driven railcars equipped with automatic centre coupling on terminal tracks, which can also be train-hauled on conventional hinterland railway lines, would enable a reduction of shunting and transhipment time and costs in intermodal container terminals by more than 30%.     

Modelling and optimisation of online container stacking with operational constraints

Container transportation plays a critical role in the global shipping network and container terminals need to improve their operations to increase efficiency. Storage yard of a container terminal is a temporary area where the containers stay until they are shipped to their next destination. We concentrate on increasing the efficiency of the storage yard by developing online stacking policies for each incoming container. An unproductive move of a container, performed to reach another container stored underneath, is called reshuffling. The objective in container stacking problem is to minimise the number of reshuffles, thereby increasing the efficiency of terminal operations. Additional weight-related operational constraints bring additional complexity to the online stacking decisions. We propose a mathematical model for the optimal online assignment of an incoming export, transit, import or empty container. We also propose an optimal online stacking policy and compare it with a random policy through simulation. Additionally, lower bounds for the performance measures are obtained through simulation by relaxing the operational constraints of the problem in a third stacking policy. We present and discuss the computational results in terms of four main performance measures.     

基于需求响应的铁路集装箱班列始发时刻优化

依据铁路运输生产实际,充分考虑集装箱货物与集装箱班列在时间和数量方面的匹配关系,以集装箱货物在集装箱办理站的总停留时间最小为优化目标,以集装箱货物装车唯一性、班列编成箱数、作业时间和发车间隔为约束条件,构建铁路集装箱班列始发时刻优化的非线性混合整数规划模型。根据模型的特点,设计基于遗传算法的求解方法。由随机产生和"先到先服务"方案结合的方法生成初始种群,并运用启发式策略修复进化过程中出现的不可行解。以胶州-黄岛之间的铁路集装箱班列为例进行仿真计算。结果表明:模型和算法具有较高的计算效率;利用模型及算法得到的集装箱班列始发时刻与集装箱货物的数量、到达时间分布之间具有较好的匹配性,使集装箱在办理站停留时间最短,制定的班列开行计划响应了用户需求。     

Dynamics of Russian dry ports

The transportation of cargos in containers has been intensively developing over the last decades. The world pace of growth in container transport is about 11% annually while in the Russian Federation from 2003 to 2007 the average growth was 21%. Container transportation is going to increase due to the construction of huge infrastructure projects for the Winter Olympics games in Sochi 2014, which implies the transportation of the required material flow. Foreign car assembly on Russian territory is developing, supplied by component parts delivered from Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as from China that now bring 21.3% import container transport to Russia. About 60% of Russian container traffic passes through seaports Saint Petersburg, Novorossiysk and Vladivostok. The scenarios for increasing capacity to meet demands ahead are enhancing the productivity of seaports sites or leading to the creation of terminals in the hinterland. Although the phenomenon of dry ports is spread all over the world, in Russia none of the seaports has sufficient number of these facilities. The inland terminals of Russian seaports will be analysed from a dry port perspective. Despite the impediments, there are ecological and economical benefits that are discussed in the article. The advantages to the transport chain suggest that dry ports are a promising area for Russian seaports’ welfare.     

Impact of container chassis management practices in the United States on terminal operational efficiency: An operations and mitigation policy analysis

Existing policies designed to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of truck queuing at maritime terminals often focus on congestion problems outside of the terminal gate, targeting a reduction in the waiting and turn time of trucks as the measure of success. This paper evaluates the impact that intra-terminal truck and equipment movements have on the terminal’s overall performance and the implications that these movements have on the effectiveness of current mitigation policies. Through a simulation of terminal processes occurring at Southern California ports it is shown that measures driving reductions in truck turn times impose greater operational loads on terminal equipment, essentially transferring savings in truck turn time rather than eliminating it in terms of the overall system. Consequently, the paper finds that total truck and cargo handling equipment movement and operational time constitutes a more accurate measure of the effectiveness of policies seeking to mitigate the impacts of truck operations at marine terminals.     

集装箱码头堆场设备运行分析

现今集装箱堆场作业设备装卸工艺呈现多样化趋势,主流作业设备以RTG、ERTG、RMG为主。大连港的集装箱码头对以上三种装卸工艺均有应用,对此三种设备的优缺点、能耗数据等方面进行分析、对比,提出合理建议。     

金融危机对我国集装箱运输市场的影响及应对策略

文章从金融危机对我国内外贸集装箱船舶运输市场影响角度进行分析,发现了我国集装箱船舶运输市场在金融危机影响之下集装箱运量、运价齐跌,集装箱船舶运输公司经营举步维艰等问题,并根据这些问题提出了我国集装箱船舶运输市场应对金融危机的相关措施,希望对我国集装箱船舶运输市场未来的发展有所帮助。     

超大型集装箱船的设计优化

本文以大连船舶重工集团有限公司自主研发设计的一系列集装箱船为基础,分析了超大型集装箱船的总体性能和结构特性及航线和货物特点,阐述了与总体性能、分舱、结构设计、集装箱布置和营运安全管理等有关的设计改进建议和优化措施,期望通过设计改进得到性能全面优化的超大型集装箱船。     

678箱集装箱多用途船动力装置选型

阐述了678箱集装箱多用途船动力装置的特点和主要设备的选型，对轴带发电系统、辅柴油机转速、热油系统、环境保护等也作了介绍。