THE SUCCESSFUL CROSS‐DOCK BASED SUPPLY CHAIN

A supply chain using the cross‐dock approach can speed goods from upstream suppliers to downstream customers quickly and cost‐effectively, with benefits to the entire chain, if the appropriate type of cross‐dock is chosen and then designed, staffed and managed for effective performance. Unlike a warehouse, which offers storage, a cross‐dock is a high performance rapid transit point that does not provide storage. Although cross‐docks have been studied with some thoroughness, what has not been seen clearly is that a cross‐dock does not operate in isolation and therefore can't be optimized independently from the upstream and downstream processes. To be successful, cross‐dock optimization makes demands for high performance on all members of the supply chain in terms of speed, effective planning, high reliability, near error‐proof processes and a high degree of transparency, visibility and information‐sharing; accordingly, the article refers to this integrative perspective as a “cross‐dock based supply chain.” To make clear this interdependency between the cross‐dock and the chain based on it, a new definition that classifies types of cross‐dock based supply chains is offered. To assist scholars analyzing and industry management choosing a cross‐dock approach, cross‐dock based supply chains are classified as falling into three different types. Lastly, based on field work in industry and on literature review, nine critical success factors for cross‐dock based supply chain operations are offered.     

Just‐in‐Time Retail Distribution: A Systems Perspective on Cross‐Docking

Cross‐docking is a just‐in‐time strategy for distribution logistics. It is aimed at reducing inventory levels and distribution lead times by creating a seamless flow of products from suppliers to customers. Prior supply chain literature has argued that creating such a seamless product flows requires a holistic view on cross‐docking management, aimed at synchronizing cross‐docking operations at the distribution center with its inbound and outbound network logistics. This paper provides an in‐depth case study illustrating how cross‐docking operations can be managed more holistically in a retail distribution context. A discrete event simulation model has been developed to understand and improve the cross‐docking operations of a large grocery retailer in the Netherlands. The model is used to quantitatively evaluate two proposed changes that exploit opportunities in the design and control of the retailer's distribution network. An extensive real‐world data set is used as input to the model. Overall, the case and simulation results show that a holistic cross‐docking management approach can indeed improve system‐wide performance, which further stresses the importance of making cross‐dock operational decisions making and network decisions together.     

引入运费险参数的电商利润优化模型分析

在网购盛行的同时,网购行为中更为常见的退货行为也给电商的利润带来了较大的不利影响。运费险诞生后,基于运费险的电商最优决策成为运营管理中的热点问题之一。将退货率及退货运费险引入经典报童模型当中,基于报童模型给出考虑退货运费的电商利润预测模型。基于商家是否购买运费险的决策,推导出不同情境下,商家的最优订货量及对应利润。通过具体算例,给出了电商利润的数值模拟。结果表明,商家在决策是否购置运费险时,应当考虑商品性价比、原有销量和利润、退货率、退货处理成本等因素。在对采购策略进行决策时,应当考虑最优订购量、进货成本。     

哈尔滨铁路局多元经营发展模式初探

面对新形势,全面提高哈尔滨铁路局非运输业实现和加快发展。哈尔滨铁路局非运输业面对货运网上受理、铁路运价及装卸费率调整和货运组织改革等一系列变化与考验,做出了不同的反响。哈尔滨铁路局是资源大局,煤、粮、石油等大宗品类货源占80%以上。多年以来,非运输企业主要依靠资源和运力创效,以物流业务为主导、靠运输优势发展的特征十分明显。货运改革改后,非运输业留存了煤炭经贸、外经外贸、加工制造、工建监理、站车传媒、石油化工以及旅游酒店等产业,路货运组织改革后,总公司提出积极发展"门到门"运输以外的社会物流服务,所以非运输业精心部署、扎实推进,全面抓好"门到门"物流服务工作贯彻落实。把握发展定位,必须大力拓展多元化经营领域,认真落实多元化各种保障措施。     

The Export of High Value-Added Products:

This paper examines the factors and issues considered important by ports and carriers involved in higher value-added exports. Our survey reveals that low freight handling charges, equipment availability, and a lack of problems caused by labor regulations were considered especially important by exporters dealing with higher value-added products. These findings have important implications for the success of exporters of higher value-added products and public policy towards port and carrier operations.     

中国出口集装箱运价指数研究述评与未来展望

中国出口集装箱运价指数(China Containerized Freight Index,简称CCFI)是全球唯一用于反映集装箱运价的指数。该指数客观、及时地反映了中国集装箱航运市场运价变动情况。是否能够主动掌握CCFI指数的发展态势,及时准确地应对CCFI指数的波动,是政府和企业在市场上做出正确决策的关键。在总结中国出口集装箱运价指数研究现状的基础上,从CCFI指数的编制、波动特性、影响因素以及预测四个方面,系统地对已有相关研究进行述评并展望。     

Narrative and quantitative analyses of workers’ compensation-covered injuries in short-haul vs. long-haul trucking

Trucking remains one of the most dangerous industries in the U.S. Study aims were to (1) identify differences in worker injury types; (2) describer typical injury scenarios; and (3) recommend injury control measures, in short-haul vs. long-haul trucking. Narrative text analyses of Kentucky short-haul and long-haul trucking workers' compensation first reports of injury were performed. A higher percentage of lifting and cranking injuries were identified in short-haul trucking compared with long-haul trucking that had a higher percentage of securing/opening/closing/adjusting injuries that involved tarping, trailer door handling, and cab slippage. In contrast, a higher proportion of short-haul trucking injury scenarios involved roadway departures and rear-end collisions. Study findings can be used to inform intrastate vs. interstate trucking injury prevention control strategies such as an enhanced driver safety training and safe freight handling in short-haul trucking, and tarping, trailer safety, and cab safety in long-haul trucking.     

促进教学法:报关和货代实训中新的尝试

文章简要阐述了在报关和货代实训中,试行"促进教学法",通过引导学生激发学生的学习兴趣,挖掘学生的内在潜能与创造思维,使学生在大量的模拟报关员和货代员的角色中实现教学情景及教学理论与实践的对接,实现教学方式由教师为主导向学生为主体转变,教学方法由单向灌输式向多向互动式转变、由学生被动接受式向探究式转变。     

国际航空运输倒付运费的风险责任分析

以一起国际航空运费纠纷案例为例,根据航空运输的实践和有关法律的规定,讨论了航空运输倒付运费条件下,托运人承担运费支付责任的条件,重点分析了承运人应负有向收货人收取运费的责任,最后探讨了倒付运费的风险防范措施:让收货人自行安排运输是最好的防范措施;托运人安排运费前要调查了解收货人资信;托运人运输安排要合理;承运人要加强业务管理。     

Competition Effects in a Liberalized Railway Market

This paper presents a game-theoretic model of a liberalized railway market, in which train operation and ownership of infrastructure are vertically separated. We analyze how the regulatory agency will optimally set the charges that operators have to pay to the infrastructure manager for access to the tracks and how these charges change with increased competition in the railway market. Our analysis shows that an increased number of competitors in the freight and/or passenger segment reduces prices per kilometer and increases total output in train kilometers. The regulatory agency reacts to more competition with a reduction in access charges in the corresponding segment. Consumers benefit through lower prices, while individual profits of each operator decrease through a higher number of competitors. We further show that the welfare effect of increased competition in the freight and/or passenger segment is ambiguous and depends on the level of competition. Finally, social welfare is higher under two-part tariffs than under one-part tariffs if raising public funds is costly to society.     

Institutional Distance and Cross‐Border Venture Capital Investment Flows

Cross‐border investments are an increasingly important part of venture capitalists' portfolios. In order to better understand venture capitalists' international investment decisions, we use dyadic pairings of European countries over a 10‐year time span to examine how regulative, normative, and cultural‐cognitive institutional differences are related to cross‐border venture capital investment flows. Results demonstrate that increased normative and cultural‐cognitive distance reduce cross‐border investments, whereas regulative distance shows no relationship. Together, these findings suggest that institutional dimensions do influence venture capital investment decisions and that the type of distance can have differing effects.     

货代业：亟须模式转型

货代企业的发展需要模式转型,这个转型是整个货代行业相对于生产、贸易、物流、海运以及金融等产业的地位、价值和理念的提升。     

Trade Logistics in Developing Countries: The Case of the Middle East and North Africa

This paper presents an analysis of obstacles facing exporting firms in developing countries by diagnosing the efficiency of trade logistics in the Middle East and North Africa region (MNA). Using logistics chain analysis for six export commodities, it presents evidence that transport and non‐transport logistics costs for export commodities from the MNA region are quite substantial, ranging from 7–25 per cent of landed product prices. Underlying these costs are key bottlenecks identified as: inefficient trucking and transport services, low export volume leading to long shipping times and the need for costly inventory accumulation, aggressive, obstructive customs authorities and procedures, low and inconsistent product quality, an underdeveloped transport intermediary sector, inefficient cross‐border transit procedures and others. Recommended actions to address developing a national transport policy, overhauling the regulatory regime for the trucking sector, export promotion measures, increasing competition in port and air freight services, reorienting customs authorities towards trade facilitation and developing cross‐border transit procedures similar to the TIR Carnets model.     

粮油机械设备调拨车改造试验

近年来随着托市库点的增加,粮油机械设备的转移运输日益频繁,运费高、运输安全性差、机动灵活性差等问题日渐突出。为了弥补以上缺陷,中央储备粮临沂直属库设计制作了粮油机械设备调拨车,取得了较好的使用效果。     

货运代理企业的发展模式探究

随着全球一体化和中国“入世”，国际货运代理企业也加速了在中国的扩张。与之相比，国内的国企货运代理企业和私营货运代理企业有它们的优劣势。阐述各类货运代理企业的特点并探讨了未来的发展模式。     

Futures hedging when the structure of the underlying asset changes: The case of the BIFFEX contract

This article is concerned with the hedging effectiveness of futures contracts whose underlying asset is an index, when the structure of this index is changing. The case of the freight futures (BIFFEX) contract is examined here. Investigation of this issue is particularly interesting as the composition of its underlying asset, the Baltic Freight Index (BFI), has been revised on a number of occasions in order to improve the hedging performance of the market; previous empirical evidence on the market indicates substantially lower variance reduction (4–19%), compared to other markets (up to 98%). The BFI is a weighted average dry‐cargo freight rate index, compiled from actual freight rates on 11 shipping routes that are dissimilar in terms of vessel sizes and transported commodities. The hedging effectiveness of the market is investigated using both constant and time‐varying hedge ratios, estimated through bivariate error correction GARCH models. Our results indicate that the effectiveness of the BIFFEX contract as a centre for risk management has strengthened over the recent years as a result of the more homogeneous composition of the index. This by itself indicates that the latest restructuring of the index, in November 1999, which is aimed at increasing its homogeneity even further, is likely to have a beneficial impact on the market. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 20:775–801, 2000     

Transportation, freight rates, and economic geography

We investigate the role of competitive transport markets in shaping the location of economic activity and the pattern of trade. In our model, carriers supply transport services for shipping manufactured goods, and freight rates are set to clear transport markets. Each carrier must commit to the maximum capacity for a round-trip and thus faces a logistics problem as there are opportunity costs of returning empty. These costs increase the freight rates charged to firms located in regions that are net exporters of manufactured goods. Since demand for transport services depends on the spatial distribution of economic activity, the concentration of production in one region raises freight rates to serve foreign markets from there, thus working against specialization and the agglomeration of firms. Consequently, a more even spatial distribution of firms and production prevails at equilibrium when freight rates are endogenously determined than when they are assumed to be exogenous as in the literature.     

Transportation,freight rates,and economic geography

We investigate the role of competitive transport markets in shaping the location of economic activity and the pattern of trade. In our model, carriers supply transport services for shipping manufactured goods, and freight rates are set to clear transport markets. Each carrier must commit to the maximum capacity for a round-trip and thus faces a logistics problem as there are opportunity costs of returning empty. These costs increase the freight rates charged to firms located in regions that are net exporters of manufactured goods. Since demand for transport services depends on the spatial distribution of economic activity, the concentration of production in one region raises freight rates to serve foreign markets from there, thus working against specialization and the agglomeration of firms. Consequently, a more even spatial distribution of firms and production prevails at equilibrium when freight rates are endogenously determined than when they are assumed to be exogenous as in the literature.     

Important Dimensions in Ocean Freight Services

Abstract

This paper examines the criteria used by organizational buyers in their choice of suppliers of shipping services for ocean freight transport so widely used in international trade. The study was conducted in Singapore which is known for its heavy reliance on international trade as well as for its high ranking container port facilities. Based on a survey of shipping managers in a cross section of business organizations in Singapore, the study identifies important factors in the choice of a shipping line selected on their heaviest used export route for their outgoing goods. It also provides buyers' evaluation of the preferred carrier on the same attributes to examine the performance gaps in the services offered by the line. The findings thus provide a bench mark for the shipping industry and points toward areas of emphasis in the service strategies of the shipping lines.     

对完善四川省道路货运管理体系的思考

健全和完善道路货运管理体系是适应经济发展需求、促进道路货运行业健康发展的保证。本文在分析四川省道路货运管理现状及其面临的挑战与要求的基础上,提出了四川省道路货运管理体系的架构,即"五大体系,一个基础,一个平台",旨在为相关决策提供参考。