OPTIMIZING THE CONTAINER TRUCK PATHS WITH UNCERTAIN TRAVEL TIME IN CONTAINER PORTS

The yard template problem in container ports determines the assignment of space to store containers for the vessels, which could impact container truck paths. Actually, the travel time of container truck paths is uncertain. This paper considers the uncertainty from two perspectives: (1) the yard congestion in the context of yard truck interruptions, (2) the correlation among adjacent road sections (links). A mixed-integer programming model is proposed to minimize the travel time of container trucks. The reliable shortest path, which takes the correlation among links into account is firstly discussed. To settle the problem, a Shuffled Complex Evolution Approach (SCE-UA) algorithm is designed to work out the assignment of yard template, and the A* algorithm is presented to find the reliable shortest path according to the port operator’s attitude. In our case study, one yard in Dalian (China) container port is chosen to test the applicability of the model. The result shows the proposed model can save 9% of the travel time of container trucks, compared with the model without considering the correlation among adjacent links.

STRATEGIES AND APPROACH FOR SMART CITY–PORT ECOSYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT SUPPORTED BY THE INTERNET OF THINGS

The article presents a new contribution to understanding and building novel phenomena of Smart City–Port (SCP) ecosystems and new approaches for the use of new technical and technological findings. The main aim is to elaborate specific strategies SCP ecosystem can secure in the future and an approach for synchronised SCP development for adaption to growing urbanization, mobility and business development, where all stakeholders would take an active role. Based on analysed literature 19 strategies for common smart development of cities and ports are highlighted. The relatively new phenomena of the Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet of Everything (IoE) can simplify their achievement in SCP ecosystem. Moreover, the proposed 3 level approach for technological development of sensing, monitoring and managing data for spatial, transport, environmental and social policy is used on 2 Northern Adriatic cities and ports. The research provides actual analyses of SCP development at Koper (Slovenia) and Rijeka (Croatia), where the development of ports was carried in a completely different way. The article thus proposes a 2 phase approach to the development of SCP and can be used more widely in building a symbiosis of cities and their ports. Firstly, the need to fulfil the strategy from the set of 19 SCP development strategies should be identified and secondly by using a 3 level approach, with existing technological support a SCP environment can be set.

A SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODEL FOR URBAN TAXI PRICE SIMULATION

Urban taxi services have been developing year on year, playing an increasingly important role in the economy and the transportation markets of each city. This increases interest in measuring their performance. This paper analysed the relationship among the four stakeholders (including administrative department, operational companies, taxi drivers and customers) for urban taxi passenger transport system in China, and applied System Dynamics (SD) model to explore the dynamic characteristics of urban taxi price system. The main achievements of this paper are as follows, firstly, this paper adopted stakeholder mapping to describe the relationships among the four stakeholders. Then analysed the causal flow diagrams and the different variables of urban taxi passenger transport system operation, and presented the SD model, which considers factors that affect the taxi operation. With the combination of taxi operation data of Harbin city, we simulated eleven urban taxi operation scenarios and proposed kinds of suggestions to improve urban taxi passenger transport system operation, which can provide a good basis for recommending policy decisions for urban taxi market.

SPATIAL MODELLING OF THE TRANSPORT MODE CHOICE: APPLICATION ON THE VIENNA TRANSPORT NETWORK

A new approach for spatial modelling of transport mode choice is presented in the paper. The approach tackles the problem by considering the trade-off between subjective and objective factors. To obtain mode Preference Rates (PRs) based on subjective factors, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is applied. The objective factors are expressed with the journey time from any point in the map to destination according to the available transport mode choice on the specific connection. The results are presented as PRs of individual transport modes. The model is validated on the conducted the survey, with students of Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) as a target audience. Members of different target groups (age, national, employment) decide differently regarding the transport choice, so it is better to analyse them separately. The presented model can be used for the city transport planning in any urban area. It can help promote the sustainable modes of transport in the areas that are less adjusted in sustainable manner.

URBAN RAIL TRANSIT PASSENGER SERVICE QUALITY EVALUATION BASED ON THE KANO–ENTROPY–TOPSIS MODEL: THE CHINA CASE

In order to evaluate the URTPSQ (Urban Rail Transit Passenger Service Quality) comprehensively, find the shortage of URTPSQ, find out the difference between the actual service situation and the passenger’s expectation and demand,and provide passengers with better travel services, a passenger-oriented KANO–Entropy–TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method is proposed and applied in this paper. Firstly, a KANO model is applied to select the service quality indicators from the 24 URTPSQ evaluation sub-indicators, according to the selection results, the KANO service quality indicators of URTPSQ are constructed. Then the sensitivity of the KANO service quality indicators based on the KANO model are calculated and ranked, the PS (Passenger Satisfaction) of each KANO service quality indicator by using the Entropy–TOPSIS method is calculated and ranked. Based on the difference between the sensitivity degree rank and the satisfaction degree rank of each KANO service quality indicator, determine the service quality KANO indicators of the URTPSQ that need to be improved significantly. A case study is conducted by taking the Chengdu subway system in China as a background. The results show that the Chengdu subway operation enterprises should pay attention to the must-be demand first, then the one-dimensional demand, finally the attractive demand. The three indicators, including transfer on the same floor in the station, service quality of staffs of urban rail transit enterprises,and cleanness in the station and passenger coach, need to be improved urgently. For the managers and operators of urban rail transit system, the passengers’ must-be demand should be satisfied first if the KANO model is applied to evaluate the service. The indicators with highest sensitivity degree and lowest TOPSIS value should be improved based on the KANO–Entropy–TOPSIS model.

RAILWAYS IN LITHUANIA: FROM TSARIST RUSSIA TO RAIL BALTICA

Lithuania is a transit country. It is a small but significant territory between East and West. This fact is substantiated by the history of the country railways, which started when Tsarist Russia launched the construction of the railway between Saint-Petersburg and Warsaw. There is not much research into the history of railways in Russia, also in Lithuania. Besides, not all available information is reliable due to the nihilistic attitudes towards Tsarism of that time. Only some of the railways in the former Soviet Union were written and talked about. The history of the Lithuania railway is not an exception. Different written sources provide a variety of dates for the first railway to be built in Lithuania. They mirror varied events in the history of Lithuanian railways, thus all of them must be taken into consideration. The article presents the evolution of Lithuanian railway transport from Tsarist Russia to Rail Baltica, which is the European railway project currently implemented in Lithuania. The article discusses the world’s first railways including the ones in Tsarist Russia when the history of Lithuanian railways started. The article also considers the building of the first railway in Lithuania, construction of railway stations, setting the transportation tariffs, selection of railway employees. The author of the article employs historical and online resources as well as a long-standing personal experience in railway transport. The research into Tsar Family’s diaries and historical novels makes it possible to disclose the facts that are not widely known. The author considers the future of Lithuania with reference to the construction of the European railway Rail Baltica. The article would be useful for the readers who are interested in the historical development and future of Lithuanian railways.

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING AS AN ELEMENT OF PLANNING RAIL TRANSPORT STRATEGIES

Effective planning and optimization of rail transport operations depends on effective and reliable forecasting of demand. The results of transport performance forecasts usually differ from measured values because the mathematical models used are inadequate. In response to this applicative need, we report the results of a study whose goal was to develop, on the basis of historical data, an effective mathematical model of rail passenger transport performance that would allow to make reliable forecasts of future demand for this service. Several models dedicated to this type of empirical data were proposed and selection criteria were established. The models used in the study are: the seasonal naive model, the Exponential Smoothing (ETS) model, the exponential smoothing state space model with Box–Cox transformation, ARMA errors, trigonometric trend and seasonal components (TBATS) model, and the AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model. The proposed time series identification and forecasting methods are dedicated to the processing of time series data with trend and seasonality. Then, the best model was identified and its accuracy and effectiveness were assessed. It was noticed that investigated time series is characterized by strong seasonality and an upward trend. This information is important for planning a development strategy for rail passenger transport, because it shows that additional investments and engagement in the development of both transport infrastructure and superstructure are required to meet the existing demand. Finally, a forecast of transport performance in sequential periods of time was presented. Such forecast may significantly improve the system of scheduling train journeys and determining the level of demand for rolling stock depending on the season and the annual rise in passenger numbers, increasing the effectiveness of management of rail transport.

INFLUENCE OF MARINE FUEL PROPERTIES ON IGNITION, INJECTION DELAY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

According to the International Council on Combustion Engines (CIMAC) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) statistics, the rational selection of Marine Bunker Fuel (MBF) properties is an effective way to improve operating conditions and energy efficiency of all types of marine Diesel Engines (DEs). The publication presents the results of studies on the influence of heavy and distillate MBF properties on the characteristics of different DE types: high-speed (Caterpillar 3512B, MTU 8V 396TB), medium-speed (SKL VDS 48/42, ChN 26.5/31) ir low-speed (MAN B&W 6S60MC). The aim of work is to form a methodological framework for assessing the influence of marine fuel properties on the energy performance of different types of ship power plants. Numerical methods show that in the case of unfavourable selection of the density and viscosity of marine fuels regulated by the standard ISO 8217:2017, the changes in specific fuel consumption be reach up to 10% low-speed, 4…7% medium-speed, and 2…3% high-speed DEs. As the density varies from light grades to 1010 kg/m3, the change in be is 3…4%. At low viscosity, as the density increases to 1030 kg/m3, the low-speed engine comparative fuel consumption increases by 5%. It is recommended not to use fuel with a density >1010 kg/m3 and a viscosity <300…400 mm2/s. Developed solutions for the rational selection of bunkered marine fuel properties for a specific DE model trough the influence of density and viscosity on fuel injection and combustion characteristics based on multiparametric diagrams of relative fuel consumption change.

MULTI-OBJECTIVE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM UNDER TYPE-2 TRAPEZOIDAL FUZZY NUMBERS WITH PARAMETERS ESTIMATION AND GOODNESS OF FIT

The problem of transportation in real-life is an uncertain multi-objective decision-making problem. In particular, by taking into account the conflicting objectives, Decision-Makers (DMs) are looking for the best transport set up to determine the optimum shipping quantity subject to certain capacity constraints on each route. This paper presented a Multi-Objective Transportation Problem (MOTP) where the objective functions are considered as Type-2 trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (T2TpFN), respectively. Demand and supply in constraints are in multi-choice and probabilistic random variables, respectively. Also considered the “rate of increment in Transportation Cost (TC) and rate of decrement in profit on transporting the products from ith sources to jth destinations due to” (or additional cost) of each product due to the damage, late deliveries, weather conditions, and any other issues. Due to the presence of all these uncertainties, it is not possible to obtain the optimum solution directly, so first, we need to convert all these uncertainties from the model into a crisp equivalent form. The two-phase defuzzification technique is used to transform T2TpFN into a crisp equivalent form. Multi-choice and probabilistic random variables are transformed into an equivalent value using Stochastic Programming (SP) approach and the binary variable, respectively. It is assumed that the supply and demand parameter follows various types of probabilistic distributions like Weibull, Extreme value, Cauchy and Pareto, Normal distribution, respectively. The unknown parameters of probabilistic distributions estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation method at the defined probability level. The best fit of the probability distributions is determined using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), respectively. Using the Fuzzy Goal Programming (FGP) method, the final problem is solved for the optimal decision. A case study is intended to provide the effectiveness of the proposed work.

MODELLING OF VTS SUPERVISOR BY ALGORITHM BASED ON PETRI NET: CASE STUDY OF DOVER INCIDENT

The paper deals with collision prevention problem in maritime transport in the area of the narrow canals with predefined routes. The Dover incident, which is analysed and described in the paper, has shown that the control of the passage of ships through the critical areas must be upgraded with an automatic supervising system, which warns the human operator of incorrect ship motion and help the operator to make the right and timely decision. The general idea is to improve the safety of navigation by introduction of automatic collision prevention based on automated supervisor helping to human operator in Vessel Traffic System (VTS) control centre. The VTS supervisor automatically monitors marine traffic by using data from Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) radar and others sensors. Such supervisor detects real time and Course Over Ground (COG) of the vessel entering a particular sector, and then estimates the required time for vessel’s passage into another sector. VTS supervisor compares the real time and estimated time of passage of the specific ship through particular sector as a part of surveillance area. In addition, it compares and monitors the deviation of the course during transition of zones (sectors). If significant difference for both values are occurred VTS supervisor triggers a time alarm or a course alarm respectively. In the paper authors have modelled and simulated collision prevention with performed by the alarm actions of VTS supervisor improved with algorithm module based on hybrid Petri net formalism and Visual Object Net ++ tool.