An Information Based Routing Model for Hazardous Material Route Selection Problem

oai:iser.sisengr.org:article/2In this paper, we address some key research questions concerning the alternative routing policy of hazardous materials in real time using stochastic dynamic networks based on real life situations. The scenario that we address in this paper involves the use of sophisticated communication tools to provide information on the current condition of the optimal path and incorporate them in our optimization model to generate alternative routes for hazmat vehicles. We address the issues of designing a framework and requirements for an adaptive routing system. To overcome system instability and information overloading, a feeback based routing policy within the framework has been developed. We show the implementation of the framework and disucss the potential benefits of our approach with the help of numerical experiments based on a real hazmat transportation network

Hazardous Materials Transportation: a Literature Review and an Annotated Bibliography

The hazardous materials transportation poses risks to life, health, property, and the environment due to the possibility of an unintentional release. We present a bibliographic survey on this argument paying particular attention to the road transportation. We attempt to encompass both theoretical and application oriented works. Research on this topic is spread over the broad spectrum of computer science and the literature has an operations research and quantitative risk assessment focus. The models present in the literature vary from simple risk equations to set of differential equations. In discussing the literature, we present and compare the underlying assumptions, the model specifications and the derived results. We use the previous perspectives to critically cluster the papers in the literature into a classification scheme

OPTIMIZATION OF RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION HAZMATS AND REGULAR COMMODITIES

Transportation of dangerous goods has been receiving more attention in the realm of academic and scientific research during the last few decades as countries have been increasingly becoming industrialized throughout the world, thereby making Hazmats an integral part of our life style. However, the number of scholarly articles in this field is not as many as those of other areas in SCM. Considering the low-probability-and-high-consequence (LPHC) essence of transportation of Hazmats, on the one hand, and immense volume of shipments accounting for more than hundred tons in North America and Europe, on the other, we can safely state that the number of scholarly articles and dissertations have not been proportional to the significance of the subject of interest. On this ground, we conducted our research to contribute towards further developing the domain of Hazmats transportation, and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), in general terms. Transportation of Hazmats, from logistical standpoint, may include all modes of transport via air, marine, road and rail, as well as intermodal transportation systems. Although road shipment is predominant in most of the literature, railway transportation of Hazmats has proven to be a potentially significant means of transporting dangerous goods with respect to both economies of scale and risk of transportation; these factors, have not just given rise to more thoroughly investigation of intermodal transportation of Hazmats using road and rail networks, but has encouraged the competition between rail and road companies which may indeed have some inherent advantages compared to the other medium due to their infrastructural and technological backgrounds. Truck shipment has ostensibly proven to be providing more flexibility; trains, per contra, provide more reliability in terms of transport risk for conveying Hazmats in bulks. In this thesis, in consonance with the aforementioned motivation, we provide an introduction into the hazardous commodities shipment through rail network in the first chapter of the thesis. Providing relevant statistics on the volume of Hazmat goods, number of accidents, rate of incidents, and rate of fatalities and injuries due to the incidents involving Hazmats, will shed light onto the significance of the topic under study. As well, we review the most pertinent articles while putting more emphasis on the state-of-the-art papers, in chapter two. Following the discussion in chapter 3 and looking at the problem from carrier company’s perspective, a mixed integer quadratically constraint problem (MIQCP) is developed which seeks for the minimization of transportation cost under a set of constraints including those associating with Hazmats. Due to the complexity of the problem, the risk function has been piecewise linearized using a set of auxiliary variables, thereby resulting in an MIP problem. Further, considering the interests of both carrier companies and regulatory agencies, which are minimization of cost and risk, respectively, a multiobjective MINLP model is developed, which has been reduced to an MILP through piecewise linearization of the risk term in the objective function. For both single-objective and multiobjective formulations, model variants with bifurcated and nonbifurcated flows have been presented. Then, in chapter 4, we carry out experiments considering two main cases where the first case presents smaller instances of the problem and the second case focuses on a larger instance of the problem. Eventually, in chapter five, we conclude the dissertation with a summary of the overall discussion as well as presenting some comments on avenues of future work

Chapter 9 Hazardous Materials Transportation

[No abstract available

Stratégies logistiques des donneurs d'ordres oeuvrant dans le domaine des matières dangereuses.

RÉSUMÉ Depuis plusieurs années, les accidents de matières dangereuses (Toulouse en 2001, Saint-Basilele- Grand en 1988 ou Mississauga-Toronto en 1979) attirent avec raison l'attention du public, des gouvernements et des chercheurs. En raison de la croissance continue de ce secteur d'activité, le nombre d’accidents est appelé à augmenter si les mesures de mitigation du risque demeurent inchangées. Par conséquent, la population s'oppose de plus en plus à la venue d'activités industrielles à risque sur le territoire de leur collectivité. De nouvelles législations sont régulièrement introduites afin de régir ce domaine industriel et des méthodologies visant la minimisation des risques sont développées. Pendant ce temps, les entreprises font face à un univers logistique complexe (choix d'un mode de transport, choix d'un transporteur, choix d'un fournisseur, prise en compte du coût, prise en compte des réglementations, prise en compte du risque, etc.) auquel les modèles développés par les chercheurs peuvent difficilement répondre. En effet, ces modèles étudient essentiellement le trajet exact emprunté par les matières dangereuses (planification tactique) et en mettant l'accent sur la minimisation des risques, suggèrent des choix allant parfois à l'encontre des réalités des entreprises qui doivent considérer la viabilité financière de chaque option. Également, afin d'être compétitives les entreprises ont de plus en plus recours à la sous-traitance et sont portées à aller chercher leurs matières premières de plus en plus loin afin de diminuer les coûts d'achat. Ces pratiques peuvent augmenter le niveau de risque et certaines entreprises en sont très conscientes, cependant elles affirment que le critère risque ne peut simplement pas compétitionner avec le critère coût lors de la prise de décision logistique. Il existe donc un besoin de voir apparaître des modèles d'optimisation des choix logistiques (planification stratégique) adoptant le point de vue des entreprises et vérifiant l'interaction entre les facteurs risque et coût afin de voir si les pertes encourues suite à un accident de matières dangereuses sont suffisamment élevées pour influencer les choix logistiques. Ce sont d'ailleurs les principaux objectifs de la thèse. Le point de vue des sites fixes est avant tout examiné puisqu'ils sont plus à même d'influencer la chaine logistique que ne le sont les transporteurs. Afin d'y parvenir, la situation actuelle doit premièrement être examinée. Ce document présente donc :----------ABSTRACT For several years, hazardous materials accidents (Toulouse in 2001, Saint-Basile-le-Grand in 1988 or Mississauga-Toronto in 1979) have drawn particular attention among various groups: the public, the governments and the researchers. Because of the continuous growth of this industry, the number of accidents would even increase if security measures remain unchanged. Consequently, new legislations are regularly introduced, methodologies aimed toward risks minimization are developed and new facilities generally face opposition. Meanwhile, firms are faced with complex logistics decisions: selection of the means of transportation, carrier selection, supplier selection, taking costs into accounts, taking regulations into account, taking risk into account, etc. However, current logistics models can hardly answer these questions as most are only aimed toward hazardous materials routing (tactical planning) and primarily focus on risks minimization. Hence, to stay competitive, firms tend to subcontract hazmat-related activities and raw materials are bought further and further away to reduce purchase costs. While these practices can increase risk levels firms state that in most cases, costs are simply too important to take risks into account. There is thus a need for new operational research models aimed at optimizing hazardous materials logistics choices (strategic planning) and adopting the firm’s point of view. The way exploitation costs and risk interact should also be examined to see if accident penalties are high enough to influence the decision-making process. These are the main goals of this thesis. We mainly focus on fixed installations, rather than on carriers, as they can influence hazmat logistics the most. However, before such an optimization model can even be developed, the current situation must be carefully examined. Hence, this document presents in turn: an analysis of the relevant literature, a survey of hazardous materials logistics, the influence of the organisational factors on the level of risk then finally, the modeling and the optimization of hazardous material logistics choices (including a sensitivity analysis). Hazardous materials literature was first examined: general statistics on dangerous goods accidents, risk analysis, transportation and location problems and risk management. Although thi