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Decision Support for Multi-Stakeholder Logistics;

The case of Intermodal Transportation Services

TRAIL Research School, Delft, June 98

Author(s):

Drs. J.H.R. van Duin

(Transport Policy and Logistical organisation, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology)

Dr. M.J.W. van Twist

(Public Management, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology)

Dr. P.W.G. Bots

(Policy Analysis, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology)

Thesis supervisor:

Prof.dr.ir. R.E.C.M. van der Heijden

(Transport Policy and Logistical organisation, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology)

Contents

1. Towards Public Logistics *

1.1 Evolution of logistics *

1.2 Logistics and designing techniques *

2. A new Approach for public logistics designing *

3. Case-study: Intermodal Transport Networks *

3.1 The approach applied *

3.1.1 The European Level *

3.1.2 The National Level(Dutch) *

3.1.3 The Regional Level *

3.1.4 The Operational Level *

3.1.5 Summary results: dynamic actor network analysis *

3.2 Integration of models *

3.2.1 A linear programming model for terminal assignment *

3.2.2 Detailed Cost Model *

3.2.3 Simulation Model for operations *

4. Conclusions *

References *

Summary

Logistics as a discipline has become a field of growing importance. Every product we buy has undergone some production and distribution activities controlled by some specific concept of logistical management. Due to the growing importance of logistic concepts internal business relations become stronger, but also external effects like transport movements intensify interaction with local government and local residents. The development of logistics will shift away beyond its own boundaries and will become a more social engagement of all the stakeholders involved. As for the design procedure of future logistic concepts, traditional logistical methodologies cannot cope with the social complexity of various stakeholders involved, i.e. the dynamic behaviour of each individual stakeholder.

Introducing a logistic concept asks for a different methodology. From the early design phase till the end of the final concept the projected application field should be made transparent. The elements of improvement should be evident and the design should take into account elements that are likely to encounter opposition. This paper reports on the development of a novel approach for designing logistic concepts, emphasising the influences of the stakeholders involved. The approach has been audited in a case study on the design of intermodal transport networks in Western Europe. The study has led to the identification of two new locations for the development of terminals which had previously been overlooked by the Dutch government. The terminals that are mentioned in the governmental plans seem to lag behind their initial estimates of transhipped containers. These omissions can be largely attributed to the lack of stakeholders’ perceptions in the design process.

Towards Public Logistics

Evolution of logistics

In the 1970s companies began to embrace and implement the concept of integrated distribution [Londe et al. 1970]. The elements of co-ordination were incorporated as the essential part of business logistics [Ballou 1978]. Bowersox defines logistics as: ‘the process of managing all activities required to strategically move raw materials, parts, and finished inventory from vendors, between enterprise, facility and to customers’. Daskin added to the controlling process also aspects of engineering and timing. ‘Logistics is the design and operation of the physical, managerial and informational systems needed to allow goods to overcome space and time’ [Daskin 1985]. The financial aspect was emphasised by Christopher. Many companies failed to recognise the impact improvements in logistic management can make, both achievement of their strategic goals as on their financial performance [Christopher 1985]. Logistics became essential to strategy [Heskett 1977], depending strongly on the strategic goals to be achieved, the increase of market shares. Progressive firms begun to realise that a well-designed and operated logistic system can create strategic differentials among competitors [Bowersox et al. 1986].

Towards supply chain management

According to the important role of logistic control many firms sought for logistical control by performing as many essential activities as possible. The internal controlling lead to private warehouses, transportation and information processing. Because such privatisation maximised the control, increased assets were also required to finance the logistics operations. The shareholders are mainly focused on the profitability of the firms. From the point of view of profitability the commitment of assets to logistics is not critical. In order to raise the return of assets, it is desirable to reduce the capital invested to support any business activity. As a response towards decreasing profits, the logistic managers found out that they could reduce the invested capital by outsourcing a wide range of logistic activities, not directly related to their core business. Logistic co-operation by a disintegration of firms [Cappellin 1992] leads to a reduction of the number of parties involved. As a result the importance of the remaining parties grew and the communication between these parties intensified. Taking into account the demands and wishes of the chain partners, lead-time reductions and lead-time reliability can occur [Ploos van Amstel c.s 1996]. The interfaces between entities in the supply chain should be evaded, because each interface point within a logistic system represents a potential source of variance [Bowersox c.s 1986]. Forrester [Forrester 1961] had already demonstrated the possibility of the extreme stock positions in chain of one by one interrelated warehouses.

Towards global logistics

In the early 1990s some companies in Europe began to integrate operations across national boundaries. The removal of trade barriers meant that it was increasingly possible to achieve geographical integration and thus operations spanning country borders in creating economies of scale [Bowersox et al. 1996]. In order to sustain economic growth, many companies felt the need to develop new markets outside their home countries. New manufacturing plants and distribution centres were shooting up in Asian countries. Not only the market conditions seemed to be favourable but also the manufacturing conditions as well. Low labour wages, good employment and expansion opportunities were the main motives for these companies to invest. As a result relocation and re-allocation of existing manufacturing activities were set-up [Vos 1993]. This global shift of manufacturing activities caused a tremendous pressure to change the distribution structures. To guarantee the delivery demands the organisation of distribution channels became of importance. While maintaining the speed of delivery, the price of delivery and flexibility of demand, the distribution channels adopted new logistic activities in their structure. These activities of transhipment, (sub)assembly, packaging and pricing became of an important value-adding links in the distribution channel.

Towards public logistics

The trend for global logistics influences in fact the logistical concept design as well. While the logistics principles are the same, both domestically and globally, the operating environment is more complex and expensive. Cost and complexity are represented by the four Ds, namely: distance, documents, diversity in culture and public administration, and demands of customers.

Distances are longer and so transportation is of growing importance in logistic concepts. The shortening of lead-times stimulates the demand for transportation. The unpleasant side effects of transportation are common nowadays. Every day we are faced with highly congested roads, noise and air pollution. In order to maintain growth and to anticipate these negative side effects, new logistics concepts are being thought over. Underground freight distribution can be seen as an illustration of this tendency. The logistic concepts influence the environment and the environment influences the logistics concepts. Because the transportation distances become more longer, there is an urgent need for ‘knowing where’ documentation’. For controlling reasons the documentation is becoming more intensive. In order to perform just-in-time deliveries the state and position of the goods to be transported has to be known continuously. Every irregularity in transportation has to be stated, because it can cause some severe time-delay. Pro-active documentation like pre-arrival notes are becoming common wisdom in transportation. Customers demand variation in products and logistic services are necessary to satisfy cultural differences; specific regulations settled by public and local authorities are to be obeyed and can, for example, have a different impact on the final delivery conditions. A real-life example of authority regulations, which have a great impact on the physical distribution structure, can be observed in Austria and Switzerland where it is obliged for the trucks to be placed on a train. But also the lobbying of municipalities to provide industrial zones for economic progress make companies reconsider their location policy and their distribution structure. The mix of cultural, political and socio-economic aspects asks for a different approach of logistic concept development. Therefore we introduce a definition about public logistics:

Definition 1.1:

Public logistics is the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient and cost-effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from point of origin to point of consumption with a view to satisfying customer and stakeholder requirements.

This original definition of logistics stems from the council of logistics management [Bramel et al. 1997]. The customer requirements can be interpreted as the tuning points for the logistic design and represent a horizontal dimension of the logistic processes. The essential addition to this definition is the ‘stakeholder’ requirements. A stakeholder means an organisation, a group of individuals, or a combination of both having a relation with or an impact on the entire process of planning, implementing or controlling. The stakeholder requirements can be seen as the vertical dimension of the logistic processes. DeBruijn and tenHeuvelhof [Bruijn et al. 1995] identify four important characteristics of stakeholder networks:

Interdependence:

Actors cannot achieve their goals without co-operation, since they are dependent on resources (e.g. statutory powers, information, funds) of other actors.

pluriformity:

Corporate actors do not behave as individuals, but as coalitions, since their constituents may have diverging interests.

Self-containment:

Corporate actors are inclined to close themselves off from their environment, developing their own frame of reference and norms, making it harder to induce their co-operation

Instability:

Positions and relations in policy networks are continually undergoing.

Each of these characteristics can be seen as impeding factors in discursive policy making, but also as enabling factors. Taking account these stakeholder characteristics, implies a change for the logistic concept development. This change means an adaptation of an approach towards a total integration of aspects of stakeholder importance. Summarising, the evolution of logistic design, we can observe a tendency from

Focus	Aim	To
internal integration	the traditional integration of the basic logistic elements procurement, production, sales and distribution	ò
channel integration	the integration of firms as part of the supply chain in order to meet the final customer service	ò
geographical integration	the global reallocation of production and firms in order to meet economies of scale and to penetrate into new market-areas	ò
public integration	the integration of actors attitudes into a new logistic concept in order to improve quality and acceptance of the concept itself

Table 1: Logistics evolution

Logistics and designing techniques

In applying methodologies for designing and implementing logistics concepts in the field of public logistics, we can identify some shortcomings:

A technical approach

Logistic reasoning and designing rely strongly on mathematical techniques. Inventory Controlling [Schneider, Nador, Silver, Monhemius], Production (job-) scheduling [Rinnooy Kan 1976], transportation routing, location allocation models [Aikens 1985] have already proven to be worthwhile in understanding logistics. The dependencies and relations between logistic issues are all strongly interrelated. Adjustments in these logistic issues require a complex trade-off analysis between various cost elements and usually a vast range of non-quantifiable factors. The high number of possible combinations of management-controllable parameters and control policy structures increase the managerial complexity [Mourits 1995].

Although Mourits points out the importance of non-quantifiable factors, his design methodology contains only hard modelling techniques for quantifiable factors. Mulvey [Mulvey 1994] also indicates that these techniques are poorly understood by the general public. A translation of the technical issues like assumptions into ‘plain English’ is usually necessary. "Great strides have been made in the use of optimisation. Models with thousands of variables and constraints are being solved regularly and the results are being applied routinely. Still we need to do a better job in making optimisation easier to use and in making solutions meaningful to all types of customers" [Nemhauser 1993].

The logistic Arena

In designing and changing logistic concepts many stakeholders are involved. The role, impact and participation of these stakeholders could be different during the design process. The stakeholders change their attitudes continuously, taking their decisions on strategic logistic issues on intuitions and common feelings, and not on a well-considered evaluation of well defined performance indicators [Sijbrands 1993].

As companies look beyond the limits of their own organisations in analysing their distribution systems, modifications of traditional distribution patterns occur. The process of change is a painful one, and the growth of new business forms, and the decay and disappearance of others is accompanied by political pressures and the breach of long-standing business relationships [Magee et al. 1985].

We still see that the main logistic designing techniques have a fundamental theoretical basis in operational research models in order to understand the ‘natural’ logistic dependencies in the logistic processes. The primary research focus is mainly oriented at the theoretical enhancement of the techniques itself and seems to pass over the way and process of decision making on the logistic issues. Therefore, the above-mentioned shortcomings of logistic designing and reasoning techniques can be seen as a challenge to develop an approach which overcomes these topics.

A new Approach for public logistics designing

As Vidal and Goetschalckx [Vidal et al. 1997] mentioned in their critical review, where they emphasise on supply chain models, some research opportunities for developing more comprehensive supply chain modelling should focus on:

general simulation of qualitative factors;
environmental conditions, such as availability of infrastructure, determination of adequate local excess capacities;
modelling of alliances and multi-company network configurations;
development of specialised solution methods.

Of course, it is almost impossible to develop a general single model that integrates all these aspects. The conclusion leads to the development of an overall methodological transportation framework, supported by multiple interrelated models capable of representing qualitative factors and uncertainties. The development of an approach to build these interrelation models must fill the gap between logistic decision processes on the one hand, and the specification of the design contents on the other hand. The new models must be easy to use and understand, with user-friendly capabilities, such as graphical representations of the systems under analysis. Sijbrands [Sijbrands 1993] clarifies that the task to support strategic logistic issues seems to be simple; however, the way to process and support is the main research objective to be tackled in future.

Figure 1: Approach for designing public logistics concepts

Dynamic Actor Network Analysis

The approach starts with the description of the multi-actor situation. For that purpose, we developed an actor modelling language, which supports the representation of different actor-perspectives [Bots et al. 1999]. In general, there is no lack of theoretical notions of networks and actors within the policy science. However, there is a lack of practical aid for empirical research on basis of the actor-model and its network-approach. A simple and accessible (ICT-supported) policy-technology for research into networks and actors is in fact still absent [Twist et al. 1998].

Every actor perception is modelled in terms of factual, causal and teleological assumptions. The factual assumptions represent how an actor perceives the current state of his environment. The causal assumptions represent which changes will occur in the perception of the actor. A causal scheme is a possible representation, but the language supports these relations using if-then commands. The last type of assumptions are the teleological assumptions, which represents the actor’s view on his desirability. Both the causal assumptions and the teleological assumptions are interpretations, respectively the relations and weights of importance, of the actor on factors. Because of the formal description of these perceptions in a database, several queries can be executed. For instance, a question like which actors have conflicting goals on a specific factor or use different definitions for a factor, could be brought to our special attention in the design of the logistic concept.

Performance indicators

The perception-based factors are the normative values of the performance indicators and form the connection to the design of the logistics concepts. The connection is comprehended in the definition of a performance indicator. ‘Performance indicators are quantifiable factors which enables a company to measure performances in relation to a pre-defined norm [Goor et al. 1993]’. In our approach the pre-defined norm forms the normative element which is a reflection of an actor’s perspective on a factor. The value part of a performance indicator can be derived from the process modelling of the logistics. Finally, the measurement of the value part against the normative part forms the definition of the performance indicator.

Logistics modelling

The last part of our approach is directed towards the calculation of the value parts of the performance indicators. Based on the appointed factors of importance in the network analysis, interpreted from the analyst’s perspective, special models are developed to measure the impact of various logistic concept variants. The great challenge is to develop a model at such a level which is, on the one hand comprehensive and easy to understand for the actors involved and, on the other hand, sufficiently detailed to validate on practice.

Case-study: Intermodal Transport Networks

After the appearance of the Dutch national program for traffic and transport [MinV&W 1990] themes like accessibility and liveability have become main issues in the development of sustainable society. One of the important policy strategies in order to meet elements of sustainable society is the modal shift of road transport to more environment-friendly modes like railroad, coast and barge transport. To compete with the road transport these transport modes are multimodal set-up as intermodal transportation services with pick-up and delivery service by truck. According to a U.S. General Accounting Office report '...the trucking industry also provided flexible, reliable, and economical service, but the growth of trucking has contributed to concerns about safety, congestion, pollution, and highway deterioration' [USGAO 1992]. Due to these facts, also actual in Europe, the attention of the Ministers of Transport for intermodal transportation is increasing and several policy documents have been published about this subject [Kroes 1991][Roermund et al. 1995][Buck 1996].

At different levels of policy making, i.e. the European level, the national level, and the regional level, we notice an ambiguity of plans for stimulating intermodal transport. At each level policy makers base their own plans for intermodal transport focusing on different goals. The integration of these plans, as well as the attention for the stakeholders, seems to be forgotten. Therefore, the practice of intermodal transportation seems to develop more whimsically, and not as aspected in the policy plans.

The approach applied

Figure 2: The Modelling Approach

With the aid of Dynamic Actor Network Analysis three specific arenas can be identified in which actors play their part in relation to intermodal transport. Each arena can be seen as a level of consideration in which actors are relationally joined. Each perspective of an actor on intermodal transportation is given in terms of goals and instruments. Due to this insight of these perspectives in the specific arenas we have developed three different models. Each model is developed in such a way that it seeks for solutions, taking into account the main performance indicators of the arena.

The European Level

The first arena is oriented at the actors playing a part in the European hinterland. The main borders of this area stretch out from the sea-ports: Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Bremen, and Hamburg to several European hinterland terminals, such as Milan, Metz, Munich etc. The main actors involved are shippers, European Ministers of Transport, road carriers, intermodal agents and their carriers. Many shippers have changed their distribution structures as a result of the removal of trade barriers. Due to the costs reducing opportunities many stock-holding units have, in their distribution structure, been eliminated or outsourced. To maintain the same reliability just-in-time deliveries have become more important. Therefore a growth in transport, mainly conceived by road carriers, has been inevitable and has caused, in interaction with motor traffic, congestion on important highways. The congestion negatively influences the total transport time for delivery, the reliability of the delivery, and, eventually, the costs. For this reason the shippers are not unwilling towards new intermodal transport initiatives. Besides this reason, some shippers strive for a ‘green’ company image by choosing environment-friendly transport like intermodal transport. There are still some obstacles in the eyes of the shippers which have to be solved. Their main concern is the current price of intermodal transport.

Another point for improvement is the number of intermodal destinations in the European hinterland. The total number of terminals connected by water and/or rail infrastructure is still too limited regarding the enormous supply and flexibility of road transport. The European Ministers of Transport try to draw up plans for the development of Transport European Networks (TENs)[EG/1692/96 1996]. These plans are focused on integration of the transport modes and define the transport networks in hubs and spokes. At hubs fast transhipment should be facilitated and subsequently transported by the spokes. The integral management of the transport at a hub consists of physical transport infrastructure, traffic controlling systems, positioning systems and navigation systems. The European Ministers of Transport try to co-ordinate and stimulate the infrastructural developments of each country in the direction of the plans for TENs. They do not have an explicit disposal for steering instruments on national governments, but they can stimulate some developments by providing subsidies. The intermodal agents and carriers have already established intermodal transport services for long distance haulage. Thick maritime container flows are transported by these agents from harbours to far locations in the hinterland (for example from Rotterdam to Milan). Facing the break-even distances it is possible for the carriers to exploit profitable transport services. So far it seems impossible to collect thick container flows for short distances. Because of their strong competitiveness, price and flexibility, the road carriers still have the greatest market share as to transport in Europe. The internal competition between road carriers is strong and therefore many carriers operate break-even or less than break-even. As in other lines of business merges, take-overs and creating alliances are daily news and should be interpreted as a matter of strategic management to survive in the long run. Some road carriers experience hindrance caused by some measures of national policies which aim at reducing the truck traffic. For instance, in Switzerland and Austria truck traffic is forbidden and all trucks are placed on trains.

The National Level(Dutch)

The national government is represented by respectively the Ministry of Transport, Economic Affairs and Environmental Affairs. All the ministries show a strong compassion for the development of intermodal transport. The Ministry of Transport tries to stimulate intermodal transport initiatives to maintain accessibility of important economic centres. The rail and water infrastructure still has enough capacity to adapt more traffic on these modes. The environment-friendliness of these modes appeals to the ministry of environmental affairs. The Ministry of Economics Affairs attaches importance to the economic generating value of the hub-terminals. At these terminals a lot of transhipment is carried out and these terminals attract companies having a good accessibility by all kinds of transport modes. While the Ministry of Economic Affairs is strongly focused on the economic generating value, a governmental policy can be observed being extremely focused on terminal development within the frontiers of the Netherlands [Roermund et al. 1995]. Combined with the knowledge of the break-even distances of intermodal transport the national policy is completely ‘frontier-oriented’ by trying to develop economic activities in the Netherlands.

Two branch organisations also playing an important part at national level are the interest groups EVO and TLN. The EVO serves the interests of the shippers in the Netherlands. Facing these interests, the EVO is quite similar to the attitude of the shippers at European level. The freedom of transport choice seems to be a more important issue. TLN represents the carriers, the members of which consist 90% of traditional road carriers and of 10 % of intermodal carriers. This important union strives after a fair competition on the transport market without governmental interference regarding any of the transport modes. TLN wants to maintain its current position as well as its total number of members. At the moment the transport sector has a keen internal competition and many carriers even accept losses. The inland intermodal agents are to a limited extent represented in the TLN. These agents develop long-distance services in the Netherlands. Because the Netherlands is a small country, the number of these services is restricted.

The Regional Level

At regional level the local authorities would like to develop their cities in terms of economic growth by providing accessible company fields. The attraction of an intermodal terminal could be a serious alternative for the improvement of the accessibility. By providing subsidies or/and raising low ground taxes they try to attract companies to their areas. For this reason some shippers are reconsidering locations, but the main motive for changing locations is the accessibility and their location towards their customer’s positions. Shippers try to organise their transport with high frequencies (allowing inventory reductions) against low wages and demand a high flexibility towards the ordering times. Therefore, terminal agents have to attract large freight volumes and transport them with high frequencies on a regular basis.

The Operational Level

At operational level the carriers do their utmost to follow the fixed transport schedule. The terminal operator wants to use its transhipment equipment and its floor space as well as circumstances allow. If the shipper agrees on price and transport schedule, he/she wants to be ‘on-line’ informed about the transportation progress.

Summary results: dynamic actor network analysis

In summary, the results obtained by the dynamic actor network analysis can be formulated as follows:

Arena	Actors	Factors	Importance
European	Shippers	Price Number & Connections of intermodal transport services	High Relatively high
	Ministers of Transport	Number & Connections of intermodal transport services	High
	Intermodal Agents	Price Long-distance intermodal connections	High
	Road carriers	Price Transport for all distances	Relatively high High
National	Ministry of Transport	Hub-and spoke terminal network with a frontier-orientation	High
	Ministry of Environmental Affairs	Intermodal transport in general	Normal
	Ministry of Economics Affairs	Economic value at Dutch terminals	High
	EVO (Shippers)	Price Number & Connections of intermodal transport services Freedom of transport choice	High Relatively high Normal
	TLN (Carriers) TLN (Intermodal Agents)	Free market Maintain positions Long distance services	High High High
	Local Governments	Terminal attraction by low ground taxes	Normal
Regional	Local Governments	Terminal attraction by low ground taxes	Normal
	Shippers	Frequency of transport Price Flexibility	High High High
	Intermodal Agents	Attraction of transport volumes Frequent schedules	High High
Operational	Carriers	Transport on schedule	Normal
	Shippers	Progress of transport information of transport	Normal
	Terminal operator	Crane utilisation Floor utilisation	High High

Table 2: Dynamic Actor Network Analysis

Integration of models

A linear programming model for terminal assignment

Because price seems to be the most important performance indicator at both European and National level, we developed a linear programming model which provides us with some insights into price variation. The continental container transport demands [NEA 1992] between several European regions, with origin or destination Netherlands, are optimally assigned to the transport network. The transport network contains direct road transport connections and intermodal transport connections between terminals. The optimisation is restricted to one year.

The objective is defined as follows:

Min	(1.1)
	(1.2)
		(1.3)

The objective contains the next cost elements:

Shuttle Costs per TEU between terminals. The costs of a shuttle connection are determined (by the model) at the largest volume in one direction. The volume in the reverse direction should be geared to this volume as much as possible (1.1).
Costs per TEU for pickup and delivery, and the transhipment costs per container at a terminal (1.2).
Costs per TEU for direct road transport between regions (1.3).

The linear search algorithm minimises the objective subject to the next restrictions:

(2.1)

(2.2)

The capacity of an intermodal shuttle-service connection is determined by the volume of the largest transport flow in forward or backward direction. This restriction is necessary to model the empty container returns (2.1,2.2)

The sum of transported containers between region o and region d must be met for the specific demands (3.0).

(3.0)

Variables definitions:

Table 3: List of variables

Applying this model formulation to the TEMII-data provides us with a large solution space. The model contains 129 regions with a transport demand, 21 choices for intermodal rail terminal locations, and 13 choices for intermodal barge terminal locations enabling more than 9 million alternative transport connections. To reduce the solution space some restrictions have been added to the formulation. This LP-formulation allows us to make a network optimisation based on costs. The results of this model indicate which terminal locations could have competitiveness towards road transport. Furthermore, based on the incoming and outgoing transport volumes, an evaluation of the geographical position of a terminal could be given.

Results linear programming model

The results of the model indicate a restricted attraction for the terminals mentioned in Dutch policy plans. Apart from the barge terminal at Nijmegen, the other terminals located nearby the frontiers seems to be less important. The Dutch policy plan for terminal development has forgotten to take into account the international competition of terminals situated nearby the Dutch frontiers, such as Duisburg and Liège. Not mentioned in the Dutch policy plans are terminals for short distances. The model results show opportunities for inland terminal development, i.e. Utrecht and Leiden/ Alphen.

Detailed Cost Model

For this last possible terminal initiative a detailed cost model is developed [Ham et al. 1997]. In order to determine the cost for transhipment, the cargo-handling equipment, acreage and personnel requirements of a terminal is relevant.

	Throughput (containers)
		<5000	5000-15000	>15000
Equipment: - gantry crane - mobile crane - forklift truck		1 1	1	1 1
Personnel: - crane operator /forklift driver - gatehouse		1 1	1 2	2 2
Acreage (hectares)		<0,33	0,33-1,0	>1,0

Table 4: Typical requirements for inland (barge) terminals [NEA/Haskoning 1991]

On this basis, the cost of transhipment can be calculated. In the feasibility study, due to economies of scale, the costs per container will decrease, but interestingly, stabilise when throughput exceeds approximate 10 thousand containers annually.

Figure 2: Container handling costs at inland terminal [Konings 1993]

Transportation by barge

In relation to transportation by barge two situations can be recognised. A new inland terminal may be located near an inland waterway, where scheduled services by barge already exist. In this case the new terminal is just an extra port of call and a fixed tariff can be arranged with the inland water carrier. Otherwise, a complete new service must be organised. The fast majority of the Dutch inland waterways can accommodate ECMT IV class-barges with a capacity of 1500 tonnes or 90 20-foot containers. The costs of hiring such a barge amount Fl 1 million annually (+/- 0.5 million US$).

Drayage

Local pickup and delivery of containers are usually carried out by truck. The fee charged for the movement of a container between the terminal and the point of origin/ destination differs from the tariffs in long distance road haulage (9). On short distances, costs are determined more by time (Fl 66.10 per hour) than by distance (Fl 0.71 per kilometre). For long distance road transport an average tariff of Fl 1.85 per kilometre was applicable.

Results Cost model Alphen a/d Rijn

At the moment, a new inland terminal in Alphen aan den Rijn is under consideration. In this region several large shippers are to be found, amongst others, the Heineken Brewery and the Swedish Electrolux company. This initiative received a warm welcome. Given the amount of cargo, forecasts indicate a throughput of at least 20,000 containers annually, or 80 containers every day. To get an impression of the terminal operations: the rail mounted gantry crane needs approximately 5 hours to (un)load the barge. In the vessel, two out of every three slots are in use. The terminal is to be built south of Alphen aan den Rijn, which allows daily sailing’s to the Port of Rotterdam with just one barge. Special attention should be paid to minimise the number of callings at the deep-sea terminals in the port area. Moreover, handling barges at the sea quay incurs extra costs. These extra terminal handling charges (THC) were added as a surplus of Fl 20 on the transhipment costs. The final cost comparison between road transport and intermodal transport showed four favourable locations in the vicinity of Heineken. The calculated tariffs demonstrated opportunities of cost reductions up to twenty percent of the road tariff.

Simulation Model for operations

If shippers have decided to service their transport demands by intermodal transport, the management of the operations becomes an important issue. The transport schedules have to be determined in such a way that from the shippers’ perspectives the time conditions for delivery have to be met, from the carriers’ perspectives the vessel/train loads have to be filled up as much as possible, and from the terminal agents perspective the productivity’s of the crane are to be guaranteed. To visualise these individual important factors of the actors the logistic processes are modelled in a simulation model.

Figure 3: A conceptual model of terminal operations

Conclusions

Based on our experiences with this approach we are able to indicate locations for new terminals. Two identified terminal locations have lead to serious terminal initiatives in Alphen aan den Rijn and Utrecht [Govera 1998]. The gap between the policy plans of the governments and the level of operational processes has grown too far apart. The dynamic behavior of the actors involved can not be static stated in policy plans, but as Muller [Muller 1995] mentioned: "intermodal transportation is not just the hardware or equipment involved with the freight movement, but the process, which becomes a major component of the systems approach to business". Due to the dynamic actor network analysis we have been able to identify critical (success and fail) factors which are felt to be important by the actors at every level. Thanks to the recognition of actors in specific arenas we can built specific decision support models for adapting specific factors of concern. In the models traditional sensitivity analysis can be applied on the critical parameters. Based on these insights we can determine whether it is possible to adapt the logistic concept towards the perceptions of the stakeholders, or it is not possible to change the logistic concept and some adaptations have to be made in the perception behaviour of the stakeholders.

Our future research will focus on the extension and the embedding of the dynamic actor network analysis within the modelling of transportation and logistic processes. Because many modelling techniques for logistics concepts rely on some kind of formal description based languages, we will continue with the development of a formal or fuzzy language to describe the dynamic behaviour of the actors involved [Bots et al. 1999]. We will seek for new representation forms of actor perspectives which are based on analysing theories in the field of policy management. Finally, this integral modelling should be embedded in a decision support environment. Furthermore, our emphasis is also focused on the underlying database structure. The decision support environment should be set-up relatively ‘open’ while various modelling techniques will use different data from the database.

At last, we would like to remark on our research paper: "Someone who wants to contribute his research for discussion at a research conference can choose one of two strategies. The first choice is to present a completed research, either or not on the basis of a paper that already has been discussed thoroughly earlier and in another setting (under a different title and with a different introduction). The second choice is to focus attention on current research, either or not on the basis of a paper that has not been discussed in full before, or is not even well thought through as yet". By writing this paper we have explicitly chosen for the second strategy. The second strategy holds a higher risk of heavy criticism, but has the advantage that the researchers can benefit from the results of the discussion in a positive way. Therefore, we hope this discussion of public logistics, dynamic actor network analysis, and logistics modelling has just started.

References

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