Dynamics of Russian dry ports

This article contributes to the solution of the relevant problem of the seaport infrastructure development for the purpose of increasing the cargo turnover in the regions of seaport location as well as to improve the quality of freight traffic on the basis of the creation of container hinterlands — dry ports. The options of dry ports as the potentially effective solution to increase the cargo turnover of existing seaports, improve the timeliness of freight transportation and overcome the environmental problems of the regions of seaport location are shown. This work analyzes the transport infrastructure of the region, the cargo turnover of major Russian sea and dry ports as well as the experience of creating dry ports in the Russian Federation and abroad. The authors propose the system of parameters for dry ports, which are recommended for the assessment of seaport infrastructure development scenarios on the stage of strategic planning. The authors have developed the approach of optimal values determination of the main parameters of dry ports by simulation modeling method. The features of construction and research of the simulation models of system “seaport — dry port†in programming software AnyLogic are considered. The results of modeling experiments with a developed simulation model are provided. This model is aimed to assess the maximum estimated capacity of the existing seaport in the conditions of the increasing irregularity of cargo traffic, and also to determine the optimum parameters of the constructed «dry port». The obtained dependencies as a result of modeling experiments prove the adequacy of the selected main parameters of dry ports for the effective evaluation of the scenarios of the strengthening of carrying and estimated capacity of existing seaports on the stage of strategic planning.

Indian dry ports (inland cargo-consolidation and distribution centres) are expected to play a pivotal role in connecting the North Indian heartland with the gateway seaports of Mundra, JNPT and Chennai. However, in this process, dry ports contribute considerably to the vexing problem of atmospheric pollution because of the ensuing road and rail transportation. There is a considerable body of research on the socially undesirable side effects of production, for instance in sectors such as manufacturing and transport. In spite of this, the standard methods so far employed in the analysis of port efficiency and productivity, notably data envelopment analysis (DEA), have failed to address and internalize the economic ramifications of transport externalities. In this article, a comparative study of the typical DEA models is undertaken, in an effort to illustrate the problem at hand. A new eco-DEA model is proposed that simultaneously evaluates both the undesirable and the desirable outputs of port service production. The model is applied to evaluate dry port efficiency, while taking into account the CO2 emissions caused by the transport of containers from dry ports, located in the North Capital Region of India, to the various gateway (coastal) ports. The results reveal that efficiency evaluations are significantly altered once environmental aspects are factored in to the model. The methodology proposed here can be easily transferred to any other industrial sector where environmental concerns are becoming an issue.

The purpose of this article is to offer a literature review on the development and classification of inland terminals, later defined as “dry ports”. The aim of the paper is to analyze the extant literature on dry ports focusing on their concept, classification, function and technological processes. The review offers an updated structured approach to what is currently defined as a dry port. To this end, a structured keyword search in major electronic databases has been conducted to find related material. As there are many different names indicating dry ports in European, South East Asian and North American countries, the following keywords were used: “dry port”, “inland terminal”, “freight village” and “interporto/i”. The search was conducted in respect of the article title and text, abstract and keywords. The results show that there is no unanimous consensus concerning cataloguing of terrestrial nodal facilities serving port gateways. “Dry ports” have emerged as fundamental elements of the integration between the sea “system” and the land network. The increased interest in the genesis and development of dry ports has been accompanied by an abundant contribution of the scientific community, originating a thriving literature, which, however, does not find a common denominator.

<p>As coastal production costs in many countries, producers are moving inland to remain competitive with other<br />countries. Also, container transport volumes continue to grow, the sea flow generates almost proportional inland<br />flow; the links with hinterland will become critical factors for the seaports functionality. Development of dry<br />ports is an important part of intermodal transport which play an important role in improving hinterlands.<br />Successful implementation dry port depends on identification and description of required capabilities to develop<br />advanced intermediate terminal, discover existing deficiency in these capabilities and their effects of each other.<br />This article fill the gaps of implementation of dry ports by offering a conceptual model. To do so, this current<br />study is done in a complicated process in five stages of: review of literature, Delphi, Gap analysis, fuzzy<br />Dematel and Structural equation modeling (SEM). 17 indexes of Delphi model were extracted and classified in 8<br />groups. The identified gap and causal relations enabled presentation of a model which was tested and verified by<br />Partial Least Squares (PLS).</p>

Nowadays, China dominates logistics volumes, and its container logistics is associated with the largest sea ports, such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Ningbo. However, China’s coastal line is long and contains numerous million-container-handling sea ports. Current leading sea ports are located mostly in the south or at the middle point of the coastal line. Volumes are rather concentrated in these few areas. Despite the fact that China’s vast population is well-spread throughout the coastal line, major cities are also located in the hinterlands. Apart from some regions (e.g., the Pearl and the Yangtze River Delta) where there are many cities that are very close to each other, distances between cities are rather long in general. Therefore, this research examines the CO2 emission reduction potential of using a larger number of sea ports (such as distribution hubs), as well as the interaction of these with analytically chosen dry ports. Results of the hypothetical country level container transportation model, using linear integer programming concerning 51 cities (largest hinterland and container sea port cities), showed that better and more equal use of sea ports serving the major cities will result in considerable emission reductions. This is the case, even if hinterland transport is completely based on road transports. However, in a situation where the dry port structure with railways is further applied, the results showed that it should be concentrated on a few hinterland points first, but also assure that most remote, million-people city locations get priority for the railway.

The extension of existing container terminals or the creation of new ones introduces new logistical challenges, including topographic issues and increased distances between the quays and storage yards located several kilometers away from the quay (dry port). These challenges are complex to evaluate analytically and directly impact the acceleration, deceleration, and average speed of a truck which in turn affect the productivity and synchronization of the overall terminal logistics. This paper proposes a transportation simulation model that incorporates detailed descriptions of the topographical and geometrical restrictions. Our simulation model evaluates various scenarios for container transportation logistics, including varying road design terminals and truck fleet size to enhance productivity. A case study from a potential container terminal on Canada’s St. Lawrence River is used to demonstrate the simulation model. Several scenarios with different designs are tested and the simulation provides numerical results for supporting decision makers.

The aim of this paper is to understand how inland terminals are developed in relation both to ports and to other inland terminals within a national system. The paper builds on previous work developing inland terminal taxonomies and applies them to the Spanish case, with supplementary focus on the relations between the “dry port” and “extended gate” concepts. Theoretical contributions include both the importance of development direction (land-driven vs sea-driven) and the identification of an emerging spatial disparity in port development strategies between coastal and inland nodes. In Spain, ports retain an interest in inland terminals through minority shareholdings but they are not the primary investors. The principal ports using Spanish inland terminals are Barcelona and Valencia, both of which are also developing logistics zones within their ports. Furthermore, while the ports are developing closer IT links with these inland locations, this does not necessarily indicate greater than normal levels of cooperation. A study of the Spanish system thus raises questions about whether the increasing academic focus on “dry ports” actually signals any change in strategies of port development or intermodal terminal operation. Therefore the final aim of this paper is to question the use of the “dry port” terminology.

Integrated strategic and operational planning of dry port container networks in a stochastic environment

Containerization of transoceanic general cargo shipments was pioneered in 1966 when Sea-Land Service, Inc. initiated a containership service from the U.S. East Coast to Europe. Shipping of cargo in uniform-sized sealed containers of truck-trailer size revolutionized the marine transportation industry during the 1970s. The intermodal container enables the shipper to pack his cargo in the container at his own premises and deliver the cargo to a port to be transferred to an ocean vessel and delivered overseas to the foreign consignee, without the contents of the cargo being handled at each stage of the journey. Initially, the container was moved to an ocean port by rail or truck, but recently this leg of the movement has been adapted to inland river movement via the container-on-barge.

Technical-economic assessments on the feasibility of new infrastructures serving seaport and dry port of Venice

Purpose: To assess the importance of multimodal cargo transportation for the economy of 1520 area countries. This study confirms the need to expand the capabilities of railway infrastructure despite the consequences of sanctions restrictions, international political situation uncertainty and trans-Eurasian container transportation imbalance with the purpose to achieve economic growth of the national economies of 1520 area countries. Methods: There were used analytics and diagnostics methods for the data (observation, analysis, synthesis) of regulatory and legal provisions governing relations within the framework of freight transportation by railway network as well as reports of leading railway companies of 1520 area countries - JSC "Russian Railways", JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy", Belarussian Railways and others, Russian and foreign forwarding companies, carrier operators, data from Russian Federation Federal Customs Service and foreign customs authorities, statistical and analytical informational databases. Results: The characteristics for main railway systems of 1520 area leading countries are given with specification of the number of international and domestic container and container-piggyback routes. The factors influencing the development of freight transportations on Russia territory along 1520 track have been identified, the prospects for cargo transportation have been assessed in view of Russia transport and logistics market current state. Practical significance: The obtained results have applied character since they offer and justify measure series to ensure effective development of multimodal transportations given existing infrastructure limitations.

This paper deals with the problem of optimally locating dry ports for seaport. Evaluation system for dry port location decision is established and FCM is applied to solve the problem. The model is used to select optimal location for inland terminals of port Tianjin in China. It is shown that among the direct hinterland of the seaport, Beijing is most suitable for operating dry port, there are also eight inland cities as alternatives. According to the result comparison, industry transfer and relevant policy tendency should also be considered when make the dry port location decision.

The agricultural water-saving technologies and their application conditions are different in different regions with different natural conditions,so it is difficult and uncertain to evaluate the existing agricultural water-saving technologies.It has great significance to select reasonable evaluation indexes and build a more scientific and comprehensive model that will help to evaluate the agricultural water-saving technologies.According to field surveys and the Delphi method,this paper selected nine indexes from twenty evaluation indexes of agricultural water-saving technology.Water-saving rate,accumulated temperature and soil fertility are ecological factors;output/input,labor input and economy input are belong to economic factors,while the reliable of technical,technical level and the acceptance from farmers are the social factors.Based on these nine indexes,a comprehensive and systematic evaluation index system of agricultural water-saving technology was constructed,allowing avoiding information overlap.This paper proposed a full evaluation model(ARM) based on Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) and Rough Set,which introduced the experience factor to revise the indexes weight by AHP and Rough Set.Using AHP,Rough Set and ARM,the existing major agricultural water-saving technologies,such as plastic mulch,straw mulch and furrow irrigation technologies were evaluated in Wuwei City,in the Gansu province.In the evaluation of plastic mulch technology,AHP emphasized a very high economic benefit(0.44),while Rough Set was most important in ecological benefit(0.33) and social benefit(0.32),failing the economic benefits(0.05).ARM revised the evaluation results of those two methods,and obtained the economic,ecological and social benefits of plastic mulch technology,was 0.36,0.20 and 0.13 respectively.However,in the evaluation of straw mulch technology,there was a significant difference in the results by Rough Set,where ARM obtained the economic,ecological and social benefits was 0.09,0.18 and 0.06 respectively.In the evaluation of furrow irrigation technology,Rough Set emphasized the ecological benefit about 0.28.After the revision of the evaluation results of those two methods,ARM obtained the economic,ecological and social benefits,was 0.24,0.01 and 0.13 respectively.Generally,evaluation results of ARM showed that plastic mulch technology gave the best economic benefit.Moreover the ecological benefit of plastic mulch and straw mulch technologies were higher by 0.19 and 0.17 than furrow irrigation technology,and this might be mainly due to the fact that straw mulch technology could keep moisture,increase soil organic matter and adjust the ground temperature in the late growth stages of maize.In addition,it emerged that plastic mulch technology could save more water as well as improve the ground temperature at seedling stage.Compared with straw mulch technology,the social benefit by plastic mulch technology and furrow irrigation technology was higher by 112.12% and 18.18% respectively,which shows that those two technologies present a strong social character,in the semi-arid areas of He Xi region.Therefore,plastic mulch technology is likely to result the best agricultural water-saving technology in maize cropping,whereas straw mulch technology demonstrated a high ecological benefit but low economic benefit,which does not fit the conditions of the Northwest of China.Based on Rough Set and AHP,ARM combined the subjective knowledge with the objective factors,could effectively overcome the problem that many of the evaluation models determined the weight subjectivity,thus the evaluation results become more realistic,which provided a scientific and simple evaluation method of agricultural water-saving technology.

Topicality. The river potential of Ukraine has great prospects in the direction of connecting with Europe at the expense of increasing the transit capacity of the Danube and the Dnieper rivers taking into account the access to the Black Sea. River transport has a number of advantages over land, in particular: ready natural ways; use of water flow; the ability to transport any cargo and passengers simultaneously; safety and environmental friendliness; high bandwidth; high degree of reliability and timeliness of delivery; low cost of transportation, which leads to fuel economy, etc. It should be noted that to date, taking into account the uplift tariffs for transportation by rail and inconvenience of use of motor transport, organization of container service on the Dnieper is the most promising and in demand.Aim and tasks. The aim of the article is to determine the organizational and economic bases of river container transportation in Ukraine. In accordance with the stated aim, it is necessary to analyze the cargo base of river container transportation in Ukraine; to formulate priorities of development of river navigation of Ukraine; to substantiate the efficiency of using container technology of cargo transportation by inland waterways of Ukraine.Research results. The complex of measures for the development of container cargo transportation by inland waterways of Ukraine was proposed, the analysis of the market of river container transportations in Ukraine in comparison with the countries of the European Union and the USA was carried out, the main problems of development of inland water transport were identified and measures for their further development and operation of inland waterways of Ukraine taking into account the prospect of their integration into the European transport network.Conclusion. Ukraine has significant potential for organizing logistics schemes for cargo transportation involving river transport in several directions. The presence, albeit somewhat obsolete, a powerful infrastructure base, a convenient geographical location and the availability of traffic flows that can potentially be transported by inland waterways, creates the preconditions for the restoration and development of this transport area.

In recent years global container shipping saw few major disrupting events that are likely to challenge container shipping business model. First, COVID-19 epidemic caused a major disruption to the global container shipping industry that became challenged by timely delivery of critical life-saving supplies. As a result of Covid-19, container trade volumes and container port volumes have declined over the first months of 2020 with container ship idling rate reaching 15%. Second, the blockage of the Evergreen mega conmanship vessel at the Suez Canal disrupted the global supply chain. Collectively, these events create a basis for questioning the efficiency of a business model relying only on major shipping corridors and using predominately mega containerships. The purpose of this research is to study container shipping along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which is positioned as one of the emerging global shipping corridors. The Russian Federation is investing in NSR development and planning to launch a subsidized regular container shipment from the Far East to Murmansk or Saint Petersburg along the NSR on a testing base already this year, 2022. This study aiming at investigating the feasibility of container shipping on the NSR using a business model approach, we map existing and future capabilities of container shipping and public acceptance of such shipping by major players. The authors examine changing institutional environment and conduct a survey of major industry players, academia, administrators, and NGOs. The results of the study contribute to the literature on the NSR feasibility and provide practically relevant information to container shipping industry stakeholders.