Bart Wiegmans

A review and analysis of the investment in, and cost structure of, intermodal rail terminals

ABSTRACT The results presented in this article identify the role of costs in the scientific and grey freight terminal handling literature and analyses the handling costs of different terminal sizes. The literature review shows that handling costs only play a marginal role in the scientific research in intermodal rail freight terminals (IRT). This is remarkable given the large role costs occupy in decision-making in freight transport. Furthermore, the used cost levels show a wide range of proposed amounts and terminal sizes or handling technologies are seldom addressed. Finally, many of the scientific papers do not make it clear whether the average transhipment cost or market price is referred to. Next, the analysis of the investment in, and cost structure of, IRTs shows that IRT investments are very capital-intensive leading to relatively high average costs per handling. However, given the cost characteristics of IRTs, the average cost per handling represents the underlying cost structure and are – in this sense – representative. The cost analysis demonstrates that extra-large IRTs actually have the lowest average handling costs, followed by small IRTs.

Ships time in port

Much of the success of containerisation is due to time economies, particularly the reduction in the duration of port calls. Although vessels now spend a small amount of time in port compared with the time at sea, it is still a cost factor. The focus of this study is the amount of time container vessels spend in port. The average vessel turnaround times (ATTs) involving 70 ports of call involved in four major trade routes are examined. The principal research questions addressed are: how do ATTs vary among ports and how is this time metric related to port performance? ATTs are compared with traffic volumes measures of port efficiency. The results are weak and lead to a hypothesis that ATTs are differentiated regionally and functionally, rather than globally. Evidence is presented for this hypothesis. Several theoretical issues are considered arising from the results and questions for further research are presented.

Deep-sea container carrier performance: how efficient are the respective container carriers?

The central research question in this article is: how efficient are globally operating deep-sea container carriers compared with each other? The answer is that most deep-sea container carriers are quite efficient. A point efficiency analysis shows that, first, the differences between the respective container carriers are considerable, and secondly, that efficiency depends on the carriers’ strategy if performance in terms of a certain indicator is ‘good’ or ‘aimed for’. From the input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) under constant returns to scale (CRS) it follows that most carriers are efficient or close to being efficient. Actually, this range of efficiency for deep-sea container carriers in such a volatile business environment is a good performance, and indicates that the carriers are successful in dealing with the Cob-Webb theorem. The input-oriented DEA [under variable returns to scale (VRS)] also shows that most carriers are efficient. The output-oriented analysis [under both CRS and VRS] again indicates that most deep-sea container carriers are efficient.

Analysis, modeling, and assessing performances of supply chains served by long-distance freight transport corridors

Abstract This article deals with an analysis, modeling, and assessing performances of supply chains served by long-distance intercontinental intermodal rail/road- and sea-shipping freight transport corridor(s). For such a purpose, the supply chains are defined and the methodology for assessing their performances under given conditions is developed. The methodology consists of the analytical models of indicators of the operational, economic, environmental and social performances of particular corridors and corresponding supply chains assumed to be dependent on the infrastructural and technical/technological capabilities. The models of particular indicators have been applied according to “what-if” scenario approach to assessing performances of the long-distance intercontinental inland and maritime freight transport corridors spreading between China and Europe in the scope of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “A New Maritime Silk Road” policy initiative. The results prove that the intermodal inland rail/road alternative could act as a serious competitive alternative to its maritime deep-sea counterpart under given conditions. Nevertheless, in order to realize the opportunities, large investments in the inland rail/road infrastructure are required to appropriately connect China with Europe.

The impact of CO2 pricing or biodiesel on container transport in and passing through the Netherlands

The paper analyses the impact of: 1) CO2 pricing; 2) using biodiesel on the multimodal freight transport system in and through the Netherlands taking the changes in the transport demands for road, rail, and inland waterway into account. Special attention is given to the impact on the market share of various barge classes in inland waterway transport. This paper presents the GIS-based multimodal flow estimation model which is applied in the scenario analysis to simulate, visualise, and evaluate the impacts of the tested policies. The scenario analysis shows that the impact of CO2 pricing is limited in terms of both reducing CO2 emissions and realising modal shift. Pricing CO2 at €90 per ton or using biodiesel B30 (a blend of 30% biofuel and 70% diesel) would achieve similar effects on the total transport network cost increase and modal shift from road to intermodal transport. The analysis shows also that the largest class of barge (VIb) would be less cost efficient than class Va barges if the fuel costs increased by 50%, because the benefit gained by Va barges from less fuel consumption per TEU per km would be higher than the cost saving per TEU per km gained by VIb barges from the scale economy of barge size. Copyright