Long-haul specialization patterns in European multihub airline networks – An exploratory analysis

Multihub airline networks are an important phenomenon in today's air transport market. An important question is to what extent different factors play a role in the specialization between hubs that are part of the same multihub network. This paper shows that total European market size to a certain long-haul destination and the ratio between the origin-destination market at the primary and the secondary hub are important variables for the role hubs play in the long-haul network of European multihub systems. Large long-haul markets are generally served from both the primary and secondary hub. Multihub carriers serve smaller long-haul markets uniquely from a single hub, depending on the relative advantage in the local origin-destination market. Looking at actual specialization patterns within European multihub networks, we distinguish between complementary multihub systems (such as Amsterdam–Paris CDG), overflow systems (such as Frankfurt–Munich) and regional systems (such as Paris CDG–Lyon).     

Drivers for migration of an intermodal network hub from a port to an inland terminal

This paper explores influences on a migration of hub status in an intermodal network from a port to an inland node by following the life cycle of an inland terminal development. The methodology is a longitudinal case study of the Swedish intermodal system over a period of 20 years, based on documentation, interviews and action research. We observe the changing roles of the Port of Gothenburg and the Falköping terminal at different time periods. These changes are then discussed and influences identified for this migration and new centralisation inland. The longitudinal approach allows a life cycle perspective which reveals the importance of initial public infrastructure development and then the operational importance of integration between shipper and intermodal transport and terminal provision in controlling the network. The integration of the inland terminal in regional logistics strategies was also found to be important in attracting port flows to be transported via the inland hub to be containerised.     

Towards collaborative, intermodal hub networks: A case study in the fast moving consumer goods market

Collaborative hub networks can provide an answer to the need to decrease logistics cost and maintain logistics service levels by shifting consolidated flows to modes that are better suited for handling large volumes (rail, barge, coastal shipping), so economies of scale can be obtained. This necessity has been increased by the tendency of globalization of industries, smaller shipments sizes, high frequencies, and the fragmentation of flows. Through collaboration the necessary synchronization between expensive but fast and flexible means of transport and inexpensive, but slow and inflexible means can be combined in an intermodal hub network. This paper shows the rationale behind these collaborative hub networks, based on the literature on the design of many-to-many hub networks. The resulting methodology is explained through presenting the results of the design and implementation of collaborative hub network for the distribution of fast moving consumer goods using a combination of trucking and inland barges. This concept, first proposed by Vermunt [Vermunt, A.J.M., 1999. Multilognet, the intelligent multimodal logistics network, an important node in the worldwide logistics net, Vermunt Logistiek Advies v.o.f., working paper (in Dutch)], won the European Intermodal Award of the European Intermodal Association in 2003, and after extensive research was launched in The Netherlands as a commercial pilot by logistics service provider Vos Logistics and barge operator Riverhopper in January 2004.     

Path to a multilayered transshipment port system: How the Yangtze River bulk port system has evolved

China's steel output has maintained rapid growth over the past twenty years. Due to this, a large number of iron ore ports/terminals have been built along the Yangtze River, and the Yangtze River bulk port system has experienced a unique development in its structure. This paper aims to understand the evolution of this bulk port system.¹ along the Yangtze River. To achieve this objective, first the development phases of the Yangtze River bulk port system are reviewed, taking the theoretical (container) port evolution model as a benchmark. Then several hypotheses addressing certain features of bulk port system development are proposed, followed by using panel data analysis to test these hypotheses. Based on this discussion and analysis, the major driving forces that are reshaping bulk port development along the Yangtze River are then summarized. It is found that evolution of the Yangtze River bulk port system in general follows the port development models in previous literature. However, the trend toward regionalization and an offshore hub have not appeared. Besides this, iron ore transshipment is moving outward both for sea ports and river ports, and few iron ore transshipment gateway hubs are occurring. Furthermore, the transshipment function of a bulk port plays a significant role in port traffic changes, but this role is affecting sea ports differently to river ports. The container throughput of transshipment sea ports has a significant negative effect on bulk traffic, whereas that of transshipment river ports has a positive effect. Geographical conditions, institutional factors and national policy, industry agglomeration, changes in market supply and demand, and technology updates are major factors driving changes to the port system structure. These factors are observed to function either individually or collectively at different development stages.     

Hinterland operations of sea ports do matter: Dry port usage effects on transportation costs and CO2 emissions

Decreasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions is one of the most important tasks for the society in the 21st century. One possibility to decrease emissions originating from transportation is to utilize more rails instead of relying simply on road transportation. In the dry port concept an inland intermodal terminal is connected to a sea port using railways. This study analyzes impacts of dry ports in a Finnish context. We compare two different configurations: In the first one shippers drive directly to a sea port, while in the second one they use dry ports. The systems are evaluated by using discrete-event simulation. In the systems we are interested in two issues: (1) Level of CO₂ emissions, and (2) Costs to transport the goods in different configurations. We use different scenarios for future energy prices and estimate both the costs and CO₂ emission development in these scenarios. We also compare the results to a situation, where emissions are minimized instead of costs. Implications on larger scale are also discussed, for example in the Baltic Sea and North Sea area, where strict sulfur emission restrictions are seen to harm sea transport and increase concentration on small number of sea ports.     

Intermodal logistics: The interplay of financial,operational and service issues

This research addresses strategic planning for an interregional, hub based, intermodal logistics network operated by a logistics service provider. A tabu search meta-heuristic is used to solve a mathematical optimization model that extends the p-hub median model for interacting hub location-allocation problems to the domain of intermodal logistics. An empirical study based on a subset of US freight flows shows that intermodal logistics networks differ significantly from traditional over-the-road logistics networks in their hub locations, network structure, and their use of direct and inter-hub shipments. Furthermore, intermodal logistics networks are more sensitive to changes in service requirements and costs.     

The directional development of intermodal freight corridors in relation to inland terminals

This paper examines the spatial development of freight infrastructure, developing a conceptual model that draws attention to the directional development of intermodal corridors in relation to inland terminals. Two concepts of vertical control of the development process are proposed in this paper, beginning with Inside-Out, whereby inland intermodal terminals seek greater integration with their sea ports, often driven by public body intervention. By contrast, Outside-In development is displayed by the conscious use of an inland node as a tool for sea port actors (whether port authorities or terminal operators) to expand their hinterland and capture discretionary cargo.One of the key distinctions between the two models is the role played by different government approaches to the development of inland terminal facilities. Therefore three national examples are discussed: Sweden, where the public sector is directly involved in development; Scotland, where the private sector is left to develop terminals but government encourages the process through spatial planning and modal shift funding; and the USA, where the national government has traditionally taken little action.The primary contribution of this paper is the research agenda developed out of the conceptual model above, which should be applied to additional case studies in future work. Arising from the conceptual model and the examination of the role of public bodies is a debate on the role of regulation. However the subject of regulation is only touched upon in this paper, therefore more research is required on the government’s role in infrastructure planning and regulation in order to determine the best approach in this policy area.     

Development and application of a dynamic model for road port access and its impacts on port-city relationship indicators

Seaports are major intermodal structures in the global supply chain, where multiple stakeholders search for profitable and resilient maritime lines. Shipowners reduce the distance between the northern and southern hemispheres by connecting hub ports. Hosting a global hub port implies competitive advantages to the municipality. However, operational bottlenecks loosen the port-city relationship. One of the main conflicts in this relation is the land port access, a hard-to-be-mapped, random operation. The traffic flow rise noticed in developed countries' ports and, more recently, in emerging markets, causes congestion and air pollutant emissions in terminal surroundings. Current models for road port access are static, single-window non-synchronized truck appointment systems. As a contribution, this case study develops a dynamic model of road port access. Also, it verifies the effectiveness of its application in the port-city relationship indicators in an emerging market global hub port, the Port of Santos, faced with ports of developed countries, prospecting optimal conditions to its implementation in an environment with significant institutional obstacles.     

The evolution of a regional container port system: the Pearl River Delta

This study investigates the progress of container port system development in South China, focusing particularly on the interplay between Hong Kong and the other ports in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. After identifying the downgrading trend of Hong Kong from a transshipment hub port for Asia and for China as a whole to a regional load center and the emergence of other deep-sea direct-service ports, the paper looks into the causes of this structural change of the port system. Four major causes are identified: the cost-base competition, the impact of the unique “one-country two-systems” policy, the impact of globalization and container standardization, and the impact of multi-modal accessibility and connectivity. The paper reveals that the interplay between different governments and between the governments and port operators are the local mechanisms that together as a whole respond to the shippers’ needs and the shipping lines’ pressure. It confirms that the interdependencies and competitive relations between terminals are being played out at a regional level. While the particular situation of the PRD is unique in many regards, the features emerging there, with its dominant hub, its network of feeder ports and its emerging direct-service non-hub terminals, are being replicated elsewhere.     

European intermodal freight transport network: Market structure analysis

The analysis of market structure and concentration measures for the Intermodal Freight Transport (IFT) market is important to avoid market failure and to find the areas for policy making to promote IFT market share. This analysis can be performed for separate segments, for example, the market for transshipment service or the market for main-haulage service. However, due to the multistage characteristic of IFT service, the segmental analysis gives an incomplete view of the IFT market at the network level. In a previous paper (Saeedi et al., 2017), we present the Intermodal Freight Transport Market Structure (IFTMS) model to conduct a network-based study of the IFTMS in which distinctive actors (i.e., pre/post haulage operators, terminals, rail/barge operators, transport chains, and corridors) are competing at different levels inside distinctive markets to deliver an integrated IFT service. There are two main challenges in the application of IFTMS model in real cases, for example, the European IFT network. First, the definition of the geographical and spatial border of the transshipment market areas is needed to determine which actors are potentially competing for a specific service demand. The second challenge is the lack of disaggregated data and the consistency of existing data in nodes (i.e., the transshipment areas) and links (i.e., the rail and barge operators). To cope with these challenges, we develop a four-step methodology in which a model-based approach is used to define the geographic boundaries of the transshipment submarkets and provide detailed and consistent data for market analysis. We also apply the IFTMS model to study the market structure of European intermodal network. Our analysis shows that the majority of transshipment markets as well as main-haulage markets are highly concentrated markets. The corridor markets – which include the IFT chains – are unconcentrated markets. Furthermore, the majority of corridors in the European Union are inside highly concentrated origin-destination markets.     

The value of specific cargo information for substitutable modes of inland transport

Communication about containers onboard a cargo carrier approaching a harbor with a hinterland operator who is to receive the containers usually reveals the total amount of goods (aggregate number of containers) to be transported inland upon unloading at the arrival dock. This communication is useful for the hinterland operator to plan and deploy its transport capacities. However, further transport of containers on the hinterland involve various transport modes at differing costs. For example, the delivery time requirement of a container dictates the most appropriate mode of inland transport, be it truck, rail, or barge, in decreasing order of speed, flexibility and cost, to move the container to the next destination. In general there may be several types of delivery time requirements and containers of each type is most economically moved inland in a corresponding transport mode. Trucking is usually used for containers that need urgent delivery and train or barge for not so urgent types. In order to efficiently plan the transport capacities for after-arrival conveyance of containers having multi-type delivery time requirements, not only should the aggregate number of containers, but also the number of containers of each type, be made available to the hinterland operator. We consider several information scenarios and in each scenario we solve a single-period capacity planning serving multi-type demands with product substitution. We then compare expected transport costs between information scenarios to evaluate the benefit of specific cargo information in improving the next-step transporting after containers are unloaded at the port of entry.     

Location analysis for the modal shift of palletized building materials

At present, the distribution of palletized building materials is mostly carried out by trucks, despite their movements having negative effects on society, the economy and the environment. However, these problems can be reduced if the transport of palletized goods is shifted to inland waterways. By doing so, the goods are bundled for the main haulage by barge. In order to reduce the transport distances by truck to an absolute minimum, a possible last-mile distribution would have to be organized via a limited number of directly canal-served hubs. The locations of those hubs are crucial for the feasibility of modal shift. This study advances the transport geography literature by elaborating a location analysis model specifically for palletized goods. This model determines the optimal hub location by taking into account the large variation of origins and destinations of transport flows, while the introduction of a cost structure enables potential economic gains (cost savings) and reductions in CO₂ emissions to be calculated. The analysis is performed for transport data on palletized building materials in Belgium. Two concepts were defined, which resulted in an optimal intermodal network of 9 hubs and one with 27 hubs; through the implementation of these networks, respectively 26% and 38% of the transport flows can be shifted to the inland waterways at a profitable cost. It can be expected that over time these percentages will increase further.     

The impact of container terminal relocation on hinterland geography

This paper presents a mathematical model for calculating the generalized costs resulting from the transportation of containers from multiple locations in a geographical region to different container terminals serving this region. The generalized costs are calculated using a road and rail transport network model, enabling potential hinterlands of terminals in close competition to be delimited, rather than port hinterlands as is more common in the literature. The mathematical model is used in a case study on the consequences of building a new terminal in the port of Lisbon and closing down an existing terminal, implying a terminal relocation between river banks. The model shows that this relocation has significant implications in the delimitation of container terminal potential hinterlands across southern Portugal. Conclusions and policy recommendations regarding the consequences of such relocation are given in terms of relative competitiveness of the different terminals and suitability of the relocation.     

The dry port concept: connecting container seaports with the hinterland

The dry port concept is based on a seaport directly connected by rail with inland intermodal terminals where containers can be dealt with in the same way as if they were in a seaport. The main purpose of the article is to extend the theory behind the dry port concept and to define three dry port categories; distant, midrange and close. The findings show that the dry port concept can help identify ways of shifting freight volumes from road to more energy efficient traffic modes that are less harmful to the environment, relieve seaport cities from some congestion and facilitate improved logistics solutions for shippers in the port’s hinterland.     

白洋港铁水联运车船直取模式研究

白洋港作为长江三峡的核心内陆港,是工业输出港、翻坝转运港和西部出海港,主要服务于白洋工业园区,担当西北地区物流陆水联运的作用。为实现白洋港铁水联运的无缝衔接,在阐述白洋港铁水联运模式及作业流程的基础上,针对白洋港既有铁水联运模式存在的问题,提出白洋港铁水联运车船直取模式,从车船直取模式设施布局及作业流程进行分析,达到压缩无效作业时间、提高白洋港铁水联运效率、释放技术站作业能力等效果,实现白洋港铁水联运效率的提升。     

我国铁水联运港口作业区布局优化研究

铁水联运港口作业区是铁水联运作业的重要场所之一,铁水联运港口作业区布局直接影响着铁水联运的作业效率。为提高铁水联运港口作业效率,减少因方案调整产生的无效工作,在阐述铁水联运港口作业区组成的基础上,使用SLP法和铁水联运港口作业区布局优化模型进行两阶段耦合优化研究,以马鞍山郑蒲港区为例验证铁水联运港口作业区布局优化模型及其算法的可行性,充分发掘铁路联运港口作业区影响因素,提升铁水联运港口作业区域布局工作效率的优势,为铁水联运的总体布局方案提供科学合理的依据。     

River-sea shipping - competitiveness of various transport technologies

This paper evaluates two existing and one new river-sea transport technology. As existing technologies, we are dealing with river-sea transport with transhipment of cargos from sea to river ships and vice versa at ports located in the river mouths and technology with river-sea vessels and the river-sea push barge system. The new cost based models are developed for each of these technologies and illustrated through various examples. The proposed models consider the dependence between minimal total costs and relations of sea transport distance to total transport distance, on one side, and a level of cargo handling rates in ports, on the other side. An analysis of the results provides us with the possibility of drawing useful guidelines for further improvement and development of river-sea transport and its technologies.     

Optimal network flows for containerized imports to the United States

This paper analyzes the intermodal transportation network of containerized imports to the United States. An optimization model is developed that integrates international and North America inland transport networks. The results indicate optimal ship size, route, port, and interior shipping corridor and are highly reflective of observed shipments. Sensitivity analyzes were performed to evaluate impacts of congestion on capacity constraints as well as the prospective impacts of the alternative routes that are emerging. Results indicate that Prince Rupert is highly competitive for shipments to some markets, but the expansion of the Panama Canal would have lesser impacts on container flows.     

Global maritime networks: The case of Maersk

Two contrasting approaches to the provision of maritime services are frequently presented: one based on direct port to port services, the other characterised by a hub and spoke network. We demonstrate there is no contradiction between these two models, that in fact they are complementary. Integrating direct services with a hub structure is necessary for assuring a wider geographical coverage. The complementarity is explained by analysing the world’s largest container shipping line, Maersk, which over the last 30 years has created a global shipping network.     

Intermodal routing of Canada–Mexico shipments under NAFTA

This paper obtains the optimal routings for intermodal containerized transport from Canada to Mexico. Such traffic is being stimulated by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but the cost and lead times of feasible routes are not well known. We summarize the links and routes to Mexico on which one or more carriers now operate, and then determine non-dominated tradeoffs between cost and service. Every southbound route from Canada requires a transshipment point in the southern or southwestern U. S. Feasible transshipment points are also candidate locations for a manufacturing ‘twin plant’, a distribution centre, or a transportation hub. Here, as a first step in this bigger problem, a network is constructed between five Canadian origins and three important Mexican destinations. Each link employs available intermodal services whose transit time and transportation cost are obtained through industry sources. A shortest-path algorithm enables calculation of the route requiring least time and the route of minimum cost. Non-dominated time/cost tradeoffs are identified for each origin–destination pair. After including inventory expenses (by parametrizing the unit value of lead time), total-cost curves then eliminate some routing alternatives. Guidelines are provided on the effects of mode, carrier, and O–D locations on selection of intermodal routes to Mexico. Finally, two new intermodal services are proposed and their benefits discussed.