Nenad Zrnić

The Costs of Container Transport Flow Between Far East and Serbia Using Different Liner Shipping Services

Abstract Liner shipping is the most efficient mode of transport for goods. International liner shipping is a sophisticated network of regularly scheduled services that transports goods from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world at low cost and with greater energy efficiency than any other form of international transportation. Liner shipping connects countries, markets, businesses and people, allowing them to buy and sell goods on a scale not previously possible. Today, the liner shipping industry transports goods representing approximately one-third of the total value of global trade. Ocean shipping contributes significantly to international stability and security. Considering the large and constant struggle in the market in terms of competitive pricing of products, a very important and indispensable role represents the container transport with a clear task to define the final price of the product. This paper analyzes the costs of container transport flow between Far East and Serbia, using different liner shipping services, observing the six world’s largest container operators (Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company, CMA CGM, Evergreen Line, China Ocean Shipping Company and Hapag-Lloyd) and inland (truck-rail-river) transport corridors. These corridors include distance between selected Mediterranean ports (Koper, Rijeka, Bar, Thessaloniki, Constanta) and Serbia. As a result, in this paper is considered a mathematical model that provides a comparative analysis of transportation costs on the different routes. It is observed already existing transport routes and it is also given hypothetical review to the development of new transport routes. The main goal of this research is to provide an optimal route with lowest transportation cost during container transport. Selection of the best route in the intermodal network is a very difficult and complex task. The costs in all modes of transport and the quality of their services are not constant parameters and changes depending on a number of conditions and characteristics. The analysis of this model within combined maritime and land-based networks would prove helpful for the study of logistics chains, the hinterland-foreland continuum, intermodal transport systems, and market competitiveness.

Tesla’s Research in the Field of Mechanical Engineering Focused on Fountains Design

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) made numerous inventions and discoveries in the field of electricity that form the basis of new scientific and technological breakthroughs, started in the late 19th century, without which our present life could not be imagined. Tesla’s abundant and interesting creative activity in the field of mechanical engineering has only sporadically been quoted in the greatest number of biographical depictions of his life and opus. Accordingly, the terms such as e.g. turbines, pumps, fountains, speedometers or aeroplanes, often act confusing even on a connoisseur, deemed to be at least averagely informed about Tesla’s inventions and discoveries. One of those less known achievements is his patent for a fountain. This invention of Tesla’s is different from usual solutions applied to fountains and aquariums of that time, where the fluid was sprayed or jetted with appropriate devices for decorative purposes. The abundant documents in the archives preserved at the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade demonstrate Tesla’s great engagement in this, at first glance less significant, segment of his creative activity. This paper presents Tesla’s work and achievements in the field of fountains. Using the original archival documents, design solutions, technical drawings, calculations, correspondence with companies and individuals, magazine articles and various brochures, the authors examine the scope of Tesla’s research in this less known field. The authors also provide CAD models based on some of Tesla’s original drawings of the fountains archived as a part of his legacy at the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

Role of Cargo Weight and Volume: Minimizing Costs and CO2 Emissions in Container Transport

The container revolution has resulted in major changes in international trade and it is the one of the most important contributions to the globalization of the world economy. In addition to an increased coordination and cooperation between different forms of transport, containerization offers benefits in form of direct effects on cost-reduction and acceleration of the “door to door” cargo distribution process, which is of crucial importance to transport users. In a constant exchange of goods between buyers and sellers around the world, goods of various type and different size and weight are transported. In most logistics systems, minimization of costs has always been the main objective. This paper departs from the previous approaches and includes the study of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, taking into consideration the beneficial impact of their reduction and quality analysis on sustainability of ecosystems. A bi-objective mathematical model is proposed, aimed at minimizing container transportation costs and CO2 emissions. This paper analyzes an intermodal transportation chain, based on the import-way and composed of two legs. The intermodal transportation network is composed of three categories of nodes—origin port, gateway ports and destination, and two link categories—maritime and inland. Furthermore, the inclusion of additional objectives into the model enables obtaining more accurate information of the observed objects. The transportation costs were considered for each of the most-commonly used types of containers in container transport, depending on different cargo volume and weight. The total CO2 emissions include ocean transport emissions from container ships and land emissions produced by truck and rail. The model was programmed in MATLAB. The bi-objective optimization has been analyzed by use of different carbon footprint factors for different modes of transport. The developed mathematical model offers a broad range of possible solutions and provides a possibility of their ranking and selecting the most optimal solution, with respect to minimization of transportation costs and CO2 emissions. The advantage of this model is its broad applicability to various ‘point to point’ relations, in which containers are transported by combination of sea and land. The model application enables obtaining adequate and reliable solutions to the observed problem. The combination of the modelling approach and the methods used is novel and with appropriate input parameters enables accurate results in logistic networks.

A Life-Cycle Approach to Characterizing Environmental Impact of Logistics Equipment in Container Ports: An Example of Yard Trucks

The incitation for this paper is the necessity to research the trends in sustainability regarding the mitigation of environmental impacts of logistics equipment in container ports. This paper discusses environmental impacts of the most common type of cargo handling equipment used at container terminals which are yard trucks, by using the methodology of life cycle assessment. The conventional yard trucks are compared with zero or near zero emissions counterparts in order to reveal the most environmentally efficient ones. The comparative life cycle assessment, which forms the major part of this paper, illustrates how this methodology could be applied as comparison and decision making tool in order to identify the entanglements that might arise from unaware application of technologies advertised as ‘green’ or eco-friendly.