PORT MANAGEMENT AND MARITIME LOGISTICS – EXAM
SUMMARY
CONTAINER LOGISTICS AND INLAND NETWORKS
Introduction supply chains and products
A supply chain consists of all companies/organizations involved in the fulfillment of a customer
demand. three main supply chain drivers (facilitators) are:
1. Products – inventories on stock (like in a shop);
2. Facilities – distribution centres, terminals, airports, depots;
3. Transportation – moving products from factories to distribution centres to shops to
customers.
Importance products for transport / ports
- Products may need special transport units and port facilities;
- Value of product and perishability, together with weight and volume determine required
transport speed;
- Containers, pallets, and packaging are very important for transportation and handling.
Five types of products:
Raw materials two types: Liquid bulk (mineral oil, LNG); Dry bulk (agribulk, coal, ore + scrap
metal).
Characteristics:
- Low value, high weight low time sensitivity;
- Liquids need tanks to be stored (limited capacity);
- Liquids need special tankers (oil, chemicals);
- Dry bulk are carried in bulk carriers.
Intermediate products liquid bulk (chemicals, gasoline) + steel and plastics
Characteristics:
- Higher value, lower volume than raw materials;
- Can be containerized if small volumes are needed;
- Steel coils are very heavy and need special transport.
Assemblies (electronic components, engines, etc)
- Much higher value, low volume.
Finished products many products, small shipment can be containerized!
- Fast moving consumer products (typically in parcels, boxes, etc staked in containers, often
light and small);
- Food and flowers;
- Industrial equipment (heavy);
- Not in containers: live animals, vehicles, trains, distillation columns, windmills (very large,
difficult to transport).
Returnable transport items Dopper, packaging, containers, roll cages, etc.
- Used to protect and store goods, allows easier handling;
- Low value, but (very) large quantities;
- Items are leased for periods and need to be returned in time (demurrage and detention);
- Need to be transported back / another point of use;
- Often pools are used (CHEP pallet pool).
Services financial, education, advice, health care, etc.
Container shipping supply chain five value-adding segments: freight logistics, container logistics,
vessel logistics, port and terminal logistics, inland transport logistics.
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,Challenges in CSSC: digitalization and decarbonization.
Container and other transport items
Maritime related container usage has increased in the past decade. Early adaption of the use of
containers doesn’t mean that the ports become major container centres.
The container designs haven’t changed since the first developments, unlike the boats and other
equipment.
Advantages of containers: (This may be an exam question)
- Permits rapid transits – ‘from factory floor to customer door’
- Quick and efficient operation in port and inland
- Containers reduce: damage, pilferage, handling costs and claims.
- Containerization expand to international markets while improving the reliability, flexibility
and costs of freight distribution.
Disadvantages Greater capital investments for:
- Equipment, container vessels, terminals, changes to the infrastructure (roads/railways).
- There have been mounting pressures on inland freight distribution to cope with the growth
of maritime containerized shipping.
Key elements in containerization containerization entails: unitization, standardization, cellular
ships, gantry cranes, straddle carriers, specialized terminals, ship-to-shore productivity, terminal
back-up land.
Measures and standards
- Five common standard lengths: 20, 40, 45, 48 and 53 ft.
o 48 and 53 ft are mostly used in the US.
- Container capacity is expressed in 20 foot equivalent unit (TEU), equal to one standard 20 ft
(length) x 8 ft (width) container.
- This is an approximate measure, the height of the box is not considered.
40-ft and 45-ft containers are too small for efficient land transport. Hence in the US where most
containers arrive at the West coast and goods have to go to the East coast, containers are unloaded
(deconsolidation) and goods are repacked in larger truck/trailers.
- Alternative 53-ft container or the LZV or 3 TEU truck. Yet not standard in EU.
Container types
Container properties
- Consists of a frame with corners,
walls of corrugated steel and a
wooden floor;
- Connect by so-called twistlocks,
also on board of ships;
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, - Needs always cranes to be moved on / off.
Other returnable transport items Roll cages and pallets
- Idea: transport and handle many products in one go.
Pallets the pallet and container sizes do not match. Hence also a
pallet wide container has been created with an interval width of 244
cm.
Container demurrage and detention
Demurrage: number of free storage days at a terminal, after which the client has to pay to the
carrier.
- Time containers spend outside the port.
Detention: number of free days after pick-up of a container at a terminal until return of the container
at a depot and after which a customer has to pay to the carrier for ‘rent’ of the container.
- Time spent on port grounds.
!! Have a negative impact on using ‘barge/train transport’ as then transport takes much more time.
Carrier haulage and merchant haulage
Carrier haulage – the ocean carrier arranges the transport from the terminal tot the ‘final
destination’.
Merchant haulage – the final transport is arranged by another party.
Research on container stacking
- Build mathematical algorithms for simplified problems, embed them in computer code and
experiment.
- Build a simulation program which mimics real operations, feed it with many input
parameters, check it with reality (validation), do many experiments, analyze the output and
draw and evaluate conclusions.
Container properties You can stack them without need of infrastructure (ground needs to be flat
and water should be drained). Yet, if you need the bottom container you need to reshuffle the top to
other places (unproductive move)
Basic problem container stacking: Which container to stack on which other container?
- Important element: when do containers leave the stack? Know if containers are destined for
a certain ship, but less known if containers will be picked up by trucks with uncertain arrival
time.
- Stack layout- depends on terminal, e.g. at ECT.
Stack capacity needed
- Stack capacity = number of lanes x number of stacks x maximal stacking height.
- Container residence time (usually 3-5 days) also determines the stack size:
o Throughput (# cont./day) x residence time = stack size (# cont.)
- Add 20% of necessary operational slack (otherwise no empty positions are available for
reshuffling).
Types of stacking policies
Random – determine a position of a container at random, if place is not suitable select another one.
Residual residence time (TVR-DTC-MD) – place containers on top of other containers with a longer
(estimated) residual residence time.
Category stacking (CS) – put containers of the same category (same ship/train/barge) on top of each
other: reduces reshuffles
Positional stacking – decision is based on stack layout (close to point of departure, levelling).
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