Abstract

There is really no debate about the superior comparative efficiency of ships with respect to fuel consumption when calculated per deadweight tonne along routes of similar length. However, the emission figures calculated per deadweight tonne is only relevant for bulk transports, and fuel consumption per cargo tonne is quite different for typical short sea shipping services based on container or RoRo technologies. Further, other emissions to air, like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particles, are typically very high for shipping – especially when no abatement technologies are applied.

Abstract

Resumen: La investigación desarrollada en esta tesis de maestría presenta una aplicación de la técnica de preferencias declaradas, para la construcción de un modelo de elección de modo de transporte entre carretera y ferrocarril para carga general susceptible a exportación-importación, aplicado a las empresas antioqueñas. Aunque el transporte de carga por carretera presenta muchos inconvenientes en el país, no existe un estudio que demuestre cuáles son las variables que influyen en la elección de un modo de transporte de carga en Antioquia, para saber si realmente sería útil un ferrocarril para la región. La investigación cualitativa se presenta en este estudio a través de las técnicas de grupo focal con las empresas importantes de la región, de esta manera se logran conocer las variables que influyen en la elección de un modo de transporte por parte de las empresas antioqueñas que exportan-importan mercancías, las cuales resultaron ser costo de la tonelada/km y frecuencia de servicio por semana. Uno de los aportes más importantes de este trabajo es calibrar un modelo de elección discreta con las variables identificadas que inciden en la elección de modo de transporte para movilizar carga por parte de las empresas antioqueñas, y estimar la influencia que tiene cada una de estas variables. Los resultados muestran que la probabilidad de captación en carga general del modo ferrocarril varía entre el 67.00% y el 92.66% cuando se compara con la carretera, en los tomadores de decisión de las empresas antioqueñas, según sea la variación de las variables influyentes en la elección de un modo de transporte (costo y frecuencia de servicio) desmintiendo la importancia de la variable tiempo de viaje, la cual por los tiempos muertos del cargue-descargue y espera en los puertos no es decisiva al comparar los dos modos. Otro aporte importante de esta investigación es el planteamiento de un trazado preliminar de un sistema férreo entre Medellín y Cartagena, el cual puede servir como base para realizar otros estudios de prefactibilidad para extraer costos y tiempos de este proyecto. Abstract: The developed research in this M.Sc. thesis, presents a technical application of stated preferences, for the construction of a choice modeling of a transportation mode between road and rail for general freight susceptible to exportation-importation, applied to the Antioquian companies. Although freight transportation by road has too many inconveniences in the country, doesn’t exist a study that shows what are the variables that influence the choice of transport mode in Antioquia, to know if really would be important a railroad for the region. Qualitative research presented in this study through focus group techniques with important companies of the region, so this way it's possible to know the variables that influence the choice of transportation mode by the companies of Antioquia that export-import merchandise, resulting cost and frequency the most important. One of the most important contributions in this job is to calibrate a discrete choice model with identified variables that identify the influence in the choice of a transportation mode to mobilize freight by the Antioquian companies, and estimate the influence that has each one of these variables. The results show that that the probability of the decision makers of the Antioquian companies choosing the railway mode varies between 67.00 % and 92.66 % when comparing with highway mode, to move general freight, and this depends on the variation of the influencing variables in the choice of a transportation mode (cost and service frequency), denying the importance of the variable travel time, which is not decisive to compare the two modes because the idle time at origin and ports. Another contribution in the present research is the approach of a preliminary layout of a rail system between Medellin and Cartagena, which can serve as a basis for other studies of feasibility to extract costs and times of this project.

Abstract

In freight transportation, a waybill is an important document that contains essential information about a consignment. The focus of this thesis is on a multi-purpose electronic waybill (e-Waybill) service, which can provide the functions of a paper waybill, and which is capable of storing, at least, the information present in a paper waybill. In addition, the service can be used to support other existing Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) services by utilizing on synergies with the existing services. Additionally, information entities from the e-Waybill service are investigated for the purpose of knowledge-building concerning freight flows. A systematic review on state-of-the-art of the e-Waybill service reveals several limitations, such as limited focus on supporting ITS services. Five different conceptual e-Waybill solutions (that can be seen as abstract system designs for implementing the e-Waybill service) are proposed. The solutions are investigated for functional and technical requirements (non-functional requirements), which can potentially impose constraints on a potential system for implementing the e-Waybill service. Further, the service is investigated for information and functional synergies with other ITS services. For information synergy analysis, the required input information entities for different ITS services are identified; and if at least one information entity can be provided by an e-Waybill at the right location we regard it to be a synergy. Additionally, a service design method has been proposed for supporting the process of designing new ITS services, which primarily utilizes on functional synergies between the e-Waybill and different existing ITS services. The suggested method is applied for designing a new ITS service, i.e., the Liability Intelligent Transport System (LITS) service. The purpose of the LITS service isto support the process of identifying when and where a consignment has been damaged and who was responsible when the damage occurred. Furthermore, information entities from e-Waybills are utilized for building improved knowledge concerning freight flows. A freight and route estimation method has been proposed for building improved knowledge, e.g., in national road administrations, on the movement of trucks and freight. The results from this thesis can be used to support the choice of practical e-Waybill service implementation, which has the possibility to provide high synergy with ITS services. This may lead to a higher utilization of ITS services and more sustainable transport, e.g., in terms of reduced congestion and emissions. Furthermore, the implemented e-Waybill service can be an enabler for collecting consignment and traffic data and converting the data into useful traffic information. In particular, the service can lead to increasing amounts of digitally stored data about consignments, which can lead to improved knowledge on the movement of freight and trucks. The knowledge may be helpful when making decisions concerning road taxes, fees, and infrastructure investments.

Abstract

Date of Conference: 29 May-1 June 2017 Conference name: 18th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Data Management (MDM), 2017 Among different components of urban mobility, urban freight transport is usually considered as the least sustainable. Limited traffic infrastructures and increasing demands in dense urban regions lead to frequent delivery runs with smaller freight vehicles. This increases the traffic in urban areas and has negative impacts upon the quality of life in urban populations. Data driven optimizations are essential to better utilize existing urban transport infrastructures and to reduce the negative effects of freight deliveries for the cities. However, there is limited work and data driven research on urban delivery areas and freight transportation networks. In this paper, we collect and analyse data on urban freight deliveries and parking areas towards an optimized urban freight transportation system. Using a new check-in based mobile parking system for freight vehicles, we aim to understand and optimize freight distribution processes. We explore the relationship between areas' availability patterns and underlying traffic behaviour in order to understand the trends in urban freight transport. By applying the detected patterns we predict the availabilities of loading/unloading areas, and thus open up new possibilities for delivery route planning and better managing of freight transport infrastructures. © 2017 IEEE.

Abstract

International audience; Purpose : The focus of this paper is to enhance our observation and knowledge of interurban road freight transport. It explores some possibilities for improving roadside freight surveys, usually used to gather origin-destination data. Methodology : To achieve this, new questions are added to a standard roadside survey form, and the enhanced survey form is tested through two surveys. The new questions relate to currently unobserved variables: the vehicle volume occupied by freight; the method of organisation (double crew, relays) used by the carriers; the existence of speci c logistical imperatives; and drivers' compulsory breaks. Results : The questions on volume constraint and carrier organisation prove to be the most informative. These two questions are thus two promising areas for improvement in roadside freight surveys. The questions about speci c logistical imperatives and driver breaks prove less fruitful. Conclusion : The paper concludes that it is possible, through minor modi cations in data collection protocols, to signi cantly enhance observation quality in road freight transport activity.

Abstract

This paper provides a systematic review on the subject of environmental sustainability in the service industry of logistics service providers (LSPs) to analyse the advances of the literature on the topic and pick out appropriate research questions to investigate. The literature review has been performed using two academic databases and spans the years 1960–2014. The paper shows that despite the increasing number of papers on the subject, several areas of research are still being neglected. In particular, the paper highlights six main literature gaps concerning the classification of green initiatives, the impact of green initiatives on LSP performance, the evaluation of sustainability performance, the factors influencing the adoption of environmental sustainability initiatives, the customer perspective in the sustainable supply chain, and the information and communication technologies supporting green initiatives. Starting from these six gaps, eight research questions have been identified. These research questions represent possible emerging areas of investigation on the topic.

Abstract

This paper appears also as Serie: Working paper series in economics ; No. 61, September 2014. ISSN 2190-9806; International audience; We analyse the potential for shifting freight transports to the railways in Western and Central Europe. This potential arises for large and concentrated freight flows over long distances of about 300 km or more. However, we show that there are only few such freight flows in Europe, and that they are concentrated or connected to the central European population centers, sometimes called the "Blue Banana". As a consequence, the European railway freight corridors according to EU Regulation 913/2010 should be divided into two distinct groups: first tier and second tier corridors. Substantial innovations should be introduced on the first tier corridors first, in order to increase efficiency and reduce noise. This refers to core innovations for rolling stock like the introduction of automatic couplings, electronic or electro-pneumatic brakes, and modern bogies.