How to boost market introduction of foldable containers? The unexpected role of container lease industry

Transport of empty containers, which arises from the need to reposition containers, is an expensive business. This holds in particular for shipping lines, who are usually responsible for container repositioning and have to bear these container management costs. Shipping lines are known to follow various strategies to reduce these costs of empty transport as much as they can. A rather unfamiliar, but interesting option to save costs is the possibility to fold empty containers. This could save transport costs, but also transhipment and storage costs. Using foldable containers could therefore be commercially attractive, provided that foldable containers can fulfil the technical and logistical conditions demanded by the users. Despite their potential benefits however, there seems to be a reluctance to use these containers. In this paper we analyse this reluctance and we discuss the important role container lessors could play in initiating the use of foldable containers. The special relationship between shipping lines and container lessors appears to be of particular importance and is a key to pave the way for using foldable containers

Intermodal Inland Waterway Transport: Modelling Conditions Influencing Its Cost Competitiveness

AbstractIn this paper a model is developed to analyse and compare the transport costs of intermodal inland waterway transport and road-only-transport. The influence of the economies of scale in inland waterway transport and terminal operations are taken into account in the analysis. In the model the transport costs are defined and related to different transport operations and conditions (e.g. share of empty kilometres, capacity usage of terminals, etc.) in order to analyse the sensitivity of the cost performance of intermodal inland waterway transport. By doing this it is possible to analyse to what extent intermodal freight transport is competitive with road-only transport in terms of transport costs and specific operations and conditions (both in shipping and terminal). The conclusions prove that roundtrips, drop & pick operations in pre- and end-haulage and smaller containers (20ft instead of 40ft) considerably improve the competitiveness of intermodal inland waterway transport, while the relative high cost operations in small terminals reduce the competitiveness of intermodal inland waterway transport

Foldable Containers: a New Perspective on Reducing Container-Repositioning Costs

There is little doubt that the requirement to reposition empty containers is one of the more persistent problems in the container transport industry, and is a key factor in cutting operating costs. Empty container transport involves high costs, particularly for shipping lines, since they generally bear these container management costs. Not surprisingly, shipping lines try to reduce the costs of moving empty containers as much as they can. Most strategies are focussed on improving the instruments to match cargo with empty containers. However, due to trade imbalances transport movements of empty containers remain to some extent unavoidable. Therefore, foldable containers seem an attractive option from the point of viewof saving transport costs as well as handling and storage costs. So far, however, these containers have not been introduced successfully. In this paper we analyse why previous initiatives for foldable containers failed and discuss the conditions required for successful commercial applications. Although the economic advantages of foldable containers seem evident, we explain that these types of boxes have to cope with scepticism about technical performance, the complexity of the folding and unfolding process in particular, as well as logistical and organisational problems with using foldable containers

EUROPEAN RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE: A REVIEW

Presented paper deals with important freight railway infrastructure review in the Europe. The shrinking situation on the road makes companies do to think more and more about alternative ways of transporting goods from remote industrial zones quickly, safely and taking into account an ever more important environmental aspect. The quantity of goods transported in freight transport is increasing every year, which is also reflected in the unfavourable increase in road transport. Road journeys are often used, roads are more prone to wear, and their repair requires significant financial costs each year. Important part of presented paper is focused on the traffic situation that the future of transport will be on the rail. Moving transport from road to rail is also the intention of the European Union, which is declared in the “White Paper on Transport”. In addition to other targets, it states that by year 2030 the 30% of road freight over the 300 km should be transferred to other modes of transport such as rail or waterborne transport, and by year 2050 this should represent more than 50% of freight transportation

Review of underground logistic systems in the Netherlands: an ex-post evaluation of barriers, enablers and spin-offs

Now, 10 years after the first plans, we analyse in this paper what has happened with Underground Logistic Systems (ULS). The major question in this paper is: Which barriers and enablers led to the failure of ULS and what ULS spin-offs can be found nowadays? Several factors can be classified as barriers or enablers. The main conclusions that can be drawn are that the opportunities for try-out were too limited; political support could have been gained on higher levels; the costs were too high, the catchment area was too limited; ULS in itself is a very promising system, but there was no one clear goal. In particular, the lack of a thorough and positive business model in combination with a lack of sufficient freight volumes almost immediately guaranteed the failure of the initiative. The spin-offs seem to have taken place in different directions: ranging from rather soft impacts (e.g. scientific knowledge) to more hard developments (adopting and developing transport and tunnelling technologies), and, although difficult to quantify, they are of great value

Comparative Analysis of European Examples of Freight Electric Vehicles Schemes—A Systematic Case Study Approach with Examples from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.

E-Mobility is a hot topic, in the public policy area as well as in business and scientific communities. Literature on electric freight transport is still relatively scarce. Urban freight transport is considered as one of the most promising fields of application of vehicle electrification, and there are on-going demonstration projects. This paper will discuss case study examples of electric freight vehicle initiatives in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK and identify enablers and barriers for common trends

Foldable Containers to Reduce the Costs of Empty Transport? A Cost–Benefit Analysis from a Chain and Multi-Actor Perspective

Transport of empty containers, which arises from the need to reposition containers, is an expensive business. This holds in particular for shipping lines, which are usually responsible for container repositioning and have to bear these container management costs. Shipping lines are known to follow various strategies to reduce the costs of empty transport. A rather unfamiliar, but interesting option to save costs is the possibility to fold empty containers. This could save transport costs, but also transhipment and storage costs. In this paper, we analyse the opportunities for commercial application of foldable containers. For this purpose a cost–benefit analysis is adopted in which four logistic concepts to use foldable containers are presented as a framework for analysis. The costs and benefits of using foldable containers in these logistic concepts are calculated and compared with the situation in which standard containers are used. It is shown that the use of foldable containers can lead to substantial net benefits in the total chain of container transport. However, much depends on the additional costs that foldable containers cause, that is, the cost of folding and unfolding, additional exploitation costs and any additional transport to places where folding and unfolding can take place. The logistic concept plays a part in it, but it should be a great challenge for designers and container producers to develop a foldable container that generates limited additional costs. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2005) 7, 223–249. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100139

The transition to zero-emission buses in public transport – The need for institutional innovation

Zero-emission buses (ZEBs) are considered a vital element in the transition to a more sustainable (urban) transport system. Both battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses do however face significant barriers to large-scale implementation. These barriers, e.g. high investment costs and limited driving range, are generally regarded as exogenous technological barriers which are beyond the sphere of influence of actors in the public transport sector. In this paper we question this assumption and therefore we look at the role of institutions in public bus transport. Based on a series of interviews with stakeholders in the Dutch public transport sector we argue that various regulative, normative, and cognitive institutions discourage the use of zero-emission buses in public transport. We conclude with several suggestions for institutional innovation to increase the chances for these buses

LIGHT RAIL IN URBAN REGIONS: WHAT DUTCH POLICY MAKERS COULD LEARN FROM EXPERIENCES IN FRANCE, GERMANY AND JAPAN.

In the Netherlands several light rail projects are planned to be developed to give public transport in urban regions a new stimulus. Based on the experiences with urban public transport in France, Germany and Japan, this paper shows which conditions and strategies are needed to introduce light rail successfully in the Netherlands. In addition to stimulating ridership the paper focusses on the opportunities to create synergy between public transport and urban revitalization. A plea is made for a systematic structure of the public transport network in which light rail could play a prominent role as the interconnecting transport system. In this way light rail could bring about a physical integration between urban and urban district public transport. In addition, it could create a synergy between high-quality transport, real estate development and urban vitality

The Future of Intermodal Freight Transport: An Overview

This book explores the great challenge of increasing the scope of intermodal freight transport. In view of the current dominant role of road transport and the increasing difficulties in coping with a growing number of vehicles in an efficient and sustainable way, intermodal freight transport could be considered a viable alternative. However, the book makes recognition of the fact that there is still a need to improve the performance of the intermodal transport system