L.A. Tavasszy

Incorporating Logistics in Freight Transport Demand Models: State-of-the-Art and Research Opportunities

Freight transport demand is a demand derived from all the activities needed to move goods between locations of production to locations of consumption, including trade, logistics and transportation. A good representation of logistics in freight transport demand models allows us to predict the effects of changes in logistics systems on future transport flows. As such it provides better estimations of the costs of interaction and allows to predict changes in spatial patterns of freight transport flows more accurately. In recent years, the attention for freight modelling has been growing and new research work has appeared aimed at incorporating logistics in freight models. In this paper we review the state of the art in the representation of logistics considerations in freight transport demand models. Our focus is on the service and cost drivers of changes in logistics networks and how these affect freight transport. Our review proceeds along a conceptual framework for modelling that goes beyond the conventional 4-step modelling approach. We identify promising areas for freight modelling that have an integrative function within this framework, such as spatial computable general equilibrium models, supply chain choice models and hypernetwork models.

Climate adaptation of interconnected infrastructures: a framework for supporting governance

Infrastructures are critical for human society, but vulnerable to climate change. The current body of research on infrastructure adaptation does not adequately account for the interconnectedness of infrastructures, both internally and with one another. We take a step toward addressing this gap through the introduction of a framework for infrastructure adaptation that conceptualizes infrastructures as complex socio-technical “systems of systems” embedded in a changing natural environment. We demonstrate the use of this framework by structuring potential climate change impacts and identifying adaptation options for a preliminary set of cases—road, electricity and drinking water infrastructures. By helping to clarify the relationships between impacts at different levels, we find that the framework facilitates the identification of key nodes in the web of possible impacts and helps in the identification of particularly nocuous weather conditions. We also explore how the framework may be applied more comprehensively to facilitate adaptation governance. We suggest that it may help to ensure that the mental models of stakeholders and the quantitative models of researchers incorporate the essential aspects of interacting climate and infrastructure systems. Further research is necessary to test the framework in these contexts and to determine when and where its application may be most beneficial.

Commitment to and preparedness for sustainable supply chain management in the oil and gas industry

Our current dependency on the oil and gas (O&G) industry for economic development and social activities necessitates research into the sustainability of the industrys supply chains. At present, studies on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices in the industry do not include firm-internal factors that affect the sustainability strategies employed by different functional areas of its supply chains. Our study aims to address this gap by identifying the relevant internal factors and exploring their relationship with SSCM strategies. Specifically, we discuss the commitment to and preparedness for sustainable practices of companies that operate in upstream and downstream O&G supply chain. We study the impact of these factors on their sustainability strategies of four key supply chain functions: supplier management, production management, product stewardship and logistics management. The analyses of data collected through a survey among 81 companies show that management preparedness may enhance sustainable supply chain strategies in the O&G industry more than commitment does. Among the preparedness measures, management of supply chain operational risks is found to be vital to the sustainability of all supply chain functions except for production management practices. The findings also highlight the central importance of supplier and logistics management to the achievement of sustainable O&G supply chains. Companies must also develop an organizational culture that encourages, for example, team collaboration and proactive behaviour to finding innovative sustainability solutions in order to translate commitment to sustainable practices into actions that can produce actual difference to their SSCM practices.

Sustainable supply chain management in the oil and gas industry: A review of corporate sustainability reporting practices

– The purpose of this paper is to assess the sustainability reporting practices of oil and gas (O & G) companies and the integration of sustainability in the management of their supply chain. , – A content analysis of sustainability report of 30 companies was conducted based on the Pacific Sustainability Index that contains 21 topics on social and environmental reporting. An analysis was also conducted on supply chain management (SCM) topics related to supplier management, product stewardship and logistics management. , – There is inconsistency in the sustainability reporting practices among the O & G companies studied. While 63 percent of the companies expressed higher environmental intent compared to social intent, their reporting of environmental performance is lagging behind social performance reporting. There is also a lack of supply chain indicators in the sustainability reporting guidelines. This affects the companies ability to report their supply chain practices objectively. , – The findings of this study can be used as a guideline to improve the sustainability reporting practices and to identify relevant supply chain indicators that can be incorporated in a sustainability reporting index. , – There is a lack of research on sustainability reporting practices in the O & G industry context, especially in terms of SCM. Previous studies focussed on companies in specific countries and/or do not incorporate all sustainability dimensions, namely, economic, environmental and social factor. We think that this is the first comprehensive study on the sustainability reporting practices and the integration of sustainability in SCM in the O & G industry.

Intermodality and Synchromodality

Transport networks have evolved from multimodal networks towards integrated networks allowing for intermodal transport – the carriage of a single load unit by consecutive modes in a transport chain. Synchromodality (or synchronized intermodality) – as the next stage in port/hinterland network development – can be briefly summarized as the vision of a network of well-synchronized and interconnected transport modes, which together cater for the aggregate transport demand and can dynamically adapt to the individual and instantaneous needs of network users. The objective of the chapter is to introduce the idea of Synchromodality. We discuss the current position and evolution of intermodal hinterland transport systems. Next, we describe the main elements of a synchronized intermodal transport system and the innovations that are necessary to arrive at synchromodal transport systems. We further describe the barriers for future development including technological, economical and institutional aspects.

Estimation of Warehouse Throughput in Freight Transport Demand Model for the Netherlands

This paper presents an extension of the classical four-step freight modeling framework with a logistics chain model. Modeling logistics at the regional level establishes a link between trade flow and transport flow, allows the warehouse and distribution center locations and throughput volumes to be determined, and permits more detailed and accurate policy decision support systems. This paper describes a two-stage logistics model that estimates the volume of regional warehouse throughput. The first stage estimates interregional trade flows by means of a gravity model application and starts from regional production and consumption volumes. The second stage, the logistics chain model, splits the production–consumption flow between direct shipments and shipments that go through warehouse facilities. An aggregate multinomial logit discrete choice model is used to determine the flow volumes for each of the possible logistics chains. Consistency is achieved between the gravity and logistics chain models by a joint estimation of unknown parameters. A new data set from a transport flow survey produced by Statistics Netherlands is used; the data set includes information on the types of loading and unloading location. This data set enables model calibration with respect to regional warehouse throughput. The proposed logistics chain model produces accurate estimates of regional warehouse throughput and plausible parameter values. The paper presents the specification of the new model, the data set used, and the results of the estimation.

Modeling the global freight transportation system: a multi-level modeling perspective

The interconnectedness of different actors in the global freight transportation industry has rendered such a system as a large complex system where different sub-systems are interrelated. On such a system, policy-related-exploratory analyses which have predictive capacity are difficult to perform. Although there are many global simulation models for various large complex systems, there is unfortunately very little research aimed to develop a global freight transportation model. In this paper, we present a multi-level framework to develop an integrated model of the global freight transportation system. We employ a system view to incorporate different relevant sub-systems and categorize them in different levels. The four-step model of freight transport is used as the basic foundation of the framework proposed. In addition to that, we also present the computational framework which adheres to the high level modeling framework to provide a conceptualization of the discrete-event simulation model which will be developed.

An integrative framework for sustainable supply chain management practices in the oil and gas industry

This paper proposes a framework for understanding the contextual factors of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices in the O&G industry. It is based on a literature review of studies related to SSCM of O&G topics. The review reveals that there is a lack of SSCM research specific to the industry. Present studies focus on individual stages of its supply chain and do not consider all dimensions of sustainable development, namely economic, environmental and social factors. In addition, existing frameworks lack important contextual aspects of the industrys business and organizational environment. To address these gaps, our research develops an overarching framework operationalizing the internal and external contextual factors of the O&G industry environment that can influence the outcome of its SSCM practices. The proposed framework is useful as a tool in the formulation and implementation of SSCM strategy that enables alignment of a companys internal capabilities with its external environment.

Heterogeneous Valuation of Quality Dimensions of Railway Freight Service by Chinese Shippers: Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis

This paper operationalizes and tests approaches to identify market segments for rail freight services and measures the importance that customers attach to rail service attributes (i.e., transport cost, time, frequency, reliability, and safety). The approach is based on choice-based conjoint analysis in which heterogeneity is captured by means of latent-class analysis. The research is novel in several respects. First, it addresses the diverse valuation of service preferences by shippers who use rail transport. Second, besides estimates for rail users who contract for transport services, the analysis also arrives at new estimates for forwarders as immediate clients for rail services. Third, in addition to the conventional random utility maximization (RUM) model, the paper discusses trials with a random regret minimization (RRM) model and a hybrid RUM-RRM model. Finally, the research produces unique values for China, one of the largest rail transport markets in the world.

4 – Distribution Structures

Distribution structures are important elements of the freight transportation system. Goods are routed via warehouses on their way from production to consumption. This chapter discusses drivers behind these structures, logistics decisions connected to distribution structures on the micro level, and possible modeling methodologies on the macro level. The authors show the connection between the micro and the macro level and highlight advantages of the different modeling approaches.