Model for forecasting the dynamics and growth of the throughput of the Central Asian transport corridor lines

This article has taken into account the importance of international corridors in Central Asia, and has provided data on the importance of rail transport in the state economy and the efficiency of projects when developing railways. The weakness and lack of import and export logistics functions in the hinterland regions creates a bottleneck that limits the development of the external economy and trade. Identification of development paths using the example of the Akhangaran-Tukimachi-Syrdarya line based on modelling of carrying capacity and comparison with the actual freight flow for rational regulation and rationing of train throughput. The method of approximation has been applied to forecast the dynamics of capacity and throughput growth on the line in question. A forecasting model was developed that corresponds to the nature of changes in the trend of the freight traffic under study. It will allow to foresee difficulties in the transportation process, to work out the line development stages to improve the carrying capacity of hauls, to plan the work of reloading stations correctly and to organise the rational use of railway transport means. As an example, the Akhangaran - Tukimachi - Syrdarya line is the main transit direction which affects all the work of the railway of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Improvement of the line for passing transit and local freight flows will improve the competitiveness of the railway in freight transportation.

Study on the Optimization of Hub-and-Spoke Logistics Network regarding Traffic Congestion

The design of the hub-and-spoke network has wide applications in the freight transportation system. This design involves the location of a group of hubs as well as the allocation between nonhub nodes and the hubs after the location. On the basis of the traditional single distribution hub-and-spoke network, the congestion flow waiting model (CFWM) and the congestion flow redistribution model (CFRM) are proposed in this paper after considering traffic waiting and traffic diversion, respectively, in the case of hub congestion. The presented models focus on the design of single distribution hub-and-spoke logistics network under traffic congestion. The objective function minimizes the total cost of the road network on the premise of ensuring the normal operation of the logistics network, which effectively balances the contradiction between the economic benefits of traffic scale and the congestion cost. Given the complexity of the problem, the congestion cost function is linearized, and the mutational particle swarm optimization (MPSO) is employed for the solution. Additionally, certain calculation experiments and sensitivity analysis of the congestion optimization model are conducted to verify the effectiveness and applicability of the constructed hub-and-spoke network and the congestion solutions. The results indicate that the optimized logistics network may effectively alleviate congestion, balance the network freight flow, and improve the stability of the hub-and-spoke network.

ATTRACTION AREA DIVISION AND FREIGHT FLOW ORGANIZATION OPTIMIZATION OF INLAND RAILWAY CONTAINER TERMINAL

The attraction area division is the foundation of distribution and organization of freight flow among railway stations. The development of railway container terminal, large railway freight distribution center, is closely related to logistics planning and economy development of local city. In this study, we divide freight flow attraction area of inland railway container terminal by using gravity model, break-point model and weighted-Voronoi-diagram with SPSS and ArcGIS. And then under the target of minimal cost and time window limitations, we develop 0–1 integer programming model for freight flow organization optimization between inland terminal and its attraction area. Finally, this paper takes railway container terminal in Harbin as an example to test model feasibility under different speeds from different transportation modes. The results show that it is necessary to divide attraction area when choosing reasonable transportation mode from feeder nodes to railway container terminal. The improvement of feeder transportation speed is an effective method to improve freight volume, increase railway revenue and realize sustainable development of China Railway (CR) Express.

Urban Freight Last Mile Logistics—Challenges and Opportunities to Improve Sustainability: A Literature Review

Last mile logistics (LML) is the least efficient and complex part of supply chain. The main objective of this study was to identify major challenges of urban freight LML and opportunities for intervention. For this, 42 peer-reviewed full papers published after 2010 and three additional references were used. The findings indicated that urban freight flow has a trend of steady growth. The main driving forces behind this steady growth are population growth, urbanization, densification, globalization, online and omni-channel (OC) retailing, and urban economic development. Using typology analysis, three main potential freight LML configurations were mapped and discussed. Freight LML configurations that involve light cargo vehicles and cargo bike-based delivery schemes could be more attractive freight LML models if the delivery failure is minimized. The LML challenges were categorized as technological, infrastructural, LML system and management, and logistic cost related challenges, and discussed broadly. Similarly, the potential opportunities were discussed from environmental, economic, and social sustainability aspects. Finally, this report has pinpointed future potential research agendas related to LML. The study could be a knowledge base useful for academicians and practitioners, logistics and technical service providers, policy makers, and customers.

Market Analysis and Affirmation Factors of the Northern Sea Route

Maritime transport routes, or corridors, imply specific courses of movement for people and goods (freight) on maritime routes and bring multiple benefits to the area through which they pass. The action and influence frame of a single route in the international transport flow is defined by an increasingly pronounced international competition at the regional and/or global transport market. Considering that the competitiveness of a transport route represents the fundamental factor of its valorization in the transport services market, the question of what defines and conditions the competitiveness mentioned above should be considered. This paper analyzes the competitiveness of the Northern Sea Route as a shorter maritime route between Asia and Europe. Under the new climate conditions in which, over the past few years in September, the Northern Sea Route course is completely ice-free, the indicated route represents a sort of competition to the alternative route through the Suez Canal. Taking into account that the competitiveness of a transport route is conditioned by market determination as well as by the quantity of freight flow through the transport route, the main research aim of this paper is to analyze the current and potential transport supply and demand as well as the Northern Sea Route's competitive environment in order to assess, in this regard its valorization and affirmation possibilities.