This thesis explores the temporal development of a strategic alliance formed by seven logistical firms from the Nordic region and European mainland. The analytical spotlight focuses on a decade long transition from a loose collaborative association to a formal consortium. By applying five levels of analysis, the study produced several insights and contributions of conceptual, theoretical, analytical and managerial art. Conceptually, the explanatory viability of several theories has been verified while conceptual inadequacy of several other propositions have been established. Theoretically, the study bridges the network-based conceptualizations of strategic alliances with other scientific fields such as international management, business process redesign, logistical systems evolution, intercultural communication and cross-cultural decision-making, and integrates research outcomes into an empirically validated model of the alliance’s systemic fit. Analytically, the "black box" of alliance’s evolution has been unpacked using a longitudinal, multivariate research method. By identifying several inversely related causal motors that concurrently and interchangeably shaped the alliance transition, the study demonstrates that over a ten-year period the forces of collaboration overpowered the relational and cultural diversity, and contributed to intra-alliance match. Managerial relevance derives from the fact that the alliance became Pan-European logistical service supplier, benefited from network enlargement, realized economies of scope, higher customer density, joint operational governance and intimate knowledge of demand specifics. These inputs have been translated into discernible competitive advantage by both, the multi-domestic and transnational output supply strategies that seldom are employed in parallel by orthodox corporate systems. The multi-domestic style of operations allowed the alliance partners creating a complete value chain in their home markets. This enabled the alliance to cope with demand heterogeneity in the European market and compete with other internationals through a broad market-service spectrum. On the other hand, by producing different elements of its value chain in different countries, the alliance created a transnational distribution system that could serve global customers, realize economies of international standardization and participate in global rivalry. By showing that single-modal freight supply solutions should be customized to meet international demand diversity, while intermodal distribution measures should be standardized to secure uniform quality standard throughout the entire distribution channel, these findings provided empirically tested knowledge on viable scope of integration for operators in complex international markets. These latter insights may represent valuable utility to managers seeking to match the supply structure with demand postulates from international users. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001

This study aims to model a regional rail based intermodal transport system and to examine the feasibility of it through a case study for a shipper of daily consumables distributing in an urban area and to evaluate it regarding cost and emissions. The idea of an intermodal line train is that of making intermediate stops along the route thus enabling the coverage of a larger market area than conventional intermodal services, hence reducing the high cost associated with feeder transports, the congestion on the road network and generated externalities. The results of the case study indicate that the most critical parameters for the feasibility of such a system are the loading space utilization of the train and the cost for terminal handling. / <p>QC 20130531</p> / Regional kombitransportsystem i Mälardalen

Transport networks have to provide carriers with time-efficient alternative routes in case of disruptions. It is, therefore, essential for transport network planners and operators to identify sections within the network which, if broken, have a considerable negative impact on the networks performance. Research on transport network analysis provides lots of different approaches and models in order to identify such critical sections. Most of them, however, are only applicable to mono-modal transport networks and calculate indices which represent the criticality of sections by using aggregated data. The model presented, in contrast, focuses on the analysis of intermodal transport networks by using a traffic micro simulation. Based on available, real-life data, our approach models a transport network as well as its actual traffic participants and their individual decisions in case of a disruption. The resulting transport delay time due to a specific disruption helps to identify critical sections and critical networks, as a whole. Therefore, the results are a valuable decision support for transport network planners and operators in order to make the infrastructure less vulnerable, more attractive for carriers and thus more economically sustainable. In order to show the applicability of the model we analyse the Austrian intermodal transport network and show how critical sections can be evaluated by this approach. (authors' abstract)

The public sector often invests in large projects in different sectors, such as education, health care and infrastructure. It can be argued that investment appraisal process in these projects should differ from conventional approaches due to the complex interests the public sector holds, which often implies that several aspects need to be considered. Conventional techniques may not suffice and therefore this thesis aims to investigate the applicability of real options analysis and multi-criteria analysis in a combined approach. The study is conducted in the form of a case study at publicly owned Sundsvalls Logistikpark, where options in the form of the utilization of development areas and the non-monetary aspect reduction of carbon dioxide are included in the appraisal. The model developed compares two alternative strategies where one is based upon conventional usage of the area and the other represents the environmentally friendly alternative. The results show that including the value of flexibility in the appraisal significantly raises the initial valuation, whereas the comparison of the strategies show that the results either details which strategy is preferred, if input to both strategies are available, or where the threshold for indifference lies. It is concluded that this model is applicable in terms of its ability to capture the value of flexibility and inclusion of several aspects of the decision problem. However, it is also concluded that the numerous simplifications made may lead to unreliability in the results, and the process of obtaining accurate input may time-consuming, depending on the case. The usability of the model is high in terms of its potential, but lower in terms of the knowledge-based threshold required of the user.

Truck transportation is considered as a favourable mode by shippers to carry freight at most ranges of distance as it has more flexibility in fleet size, capacity, scheduling, routing, and access. Although truck is considered as the popular mode for freight transportation, road-rail intermodal freight transportation becomes an attractive alternative to road only mode since the latter has no longer assured a reliable service due to traffic congestion problem. It also raises public concern in environmental and road safety impacts. Intermodal freight transportation is defined as a system that carries freight from origin to destination using two or more transportation modes where transfers between modes occur at an intermodal freight terminal. Success of the terminal depends on four major factors, namely: location, efficiency, financial sustainability, and rail level of service. Among these, the location is one of the most crucial success factors and needs to be considered carefully as it has direct and indirect impacts on a number of stakeholders including terminal users, terminal operators, transport network infrastructure providers, and community. Limitations of previous terminal location evaluation models in representing individual preference and behaviour as well as accommodating negotiation and communication between the players bring in an opportunity to develop a new model which is more flexible and capable of providing a solution that is not necessary to be optimal, but acceptable for every player without requiring explicit trade-offs. This thesis is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of applying an agent-based approach to the evaluation of intermodal freight terminal location and investigating terminal effectiveness against stakeholder equity and some important aspects arising from the different stakeholders’ viewpoints. Agent technologies were introduced to model the stakeholders as individual agents. The agent concept was adopted to develop a decentralised location evaluation system that is able to balance the terminal effectiveness with the stakeholder equity. The proposed agent-based location evaluation model was modelled as a hierarchical control system that comprises three decision levels: local level, stakeholder level and policy level. Policy level is the highest decision level, which is represented by a policy maker. Apart from the policy level, the rest can be viewed as operational decision levels. Local level is the lowest control level. At this level, each stakeholder was classified into stakeholder groups based on their characteristics and interest. The terminal scenarios were then evaluated based on benefit maximisation criteria. Stakeholder control is the higher control level than the local level. It represents the control level where negotiations and decisions between groups of people (stakeholders) with different point of views are made. At this level, negotiation process was used to determine terminal location based on preference and equity of stakeholders. The determined terminal site was then used in the evaluation against constraints to ensure that all agents are satisfied. The terminal location decision for South East Queensland (SEQ) was applied as a case study of this thesis. The SEQ strategic freight transport model was developed, calibrated, and validated to assist in providing inputs for the evaluation of terminal location. The results indicated that for the developed agent-based location evaluation model, Yatala was selected as the most appropriate terminal location that results in the highest effectiveness and equity (as measured by level of satisfaction and Gini coefficient, respectively). Other location evaluation models were also used in comparison with the developed agent-based location evaluation model. Those include P-Median, P-Centre, and maximum covering models. It was found that the agent-based location evaluation model outperformed the other location evaluation models. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the consistency of model outputs against the uncertainties in the input parameters. In most cases, the terminal location decisions obtained from the developed agent-based location evaluation model was not sensitive to the changes in those parameters. However, the results suggested that when a unit cost of truck travel delay increased, the impact on the final terminal location decisions was observed. This thesis demonstrated the feasibility of applying a decentralised approach to terminal location decision problem using a multi-agent concept and evaluating it against other well-known location problems. A new framework and methodology for the planning of intermodal terminal location evaluation was also formulated. Finally, the problems of terminal location evaluation and optimisation of intermodal freight terminal operation were integrated into a single evaluation model.

Este trabalho está relacionado coma implantação de adequados terminais intermodais para granéis sólidos nas margens das hidrovias, de modo a aumentar a participação do modal fluvial na matriz de transporte do país. Apresenta-se, inicialmente, um panorama da distribuição modal de transportes em que se enfatiza a deficiência dos terminais fluviais existentes como umfator responsável por esta distribuição. É estabelecido, então, como objetivo do trabalho o desenvolvimento do projeto de umterminal intermodal para a hidrovia Tietê-Paraná. O primeiro passo para o projeto é um estudo de demandas e de capacidade da via onde se define: o tipo de carga, quantidade de carga movimentada atualmente e a projeção de demanda, bem como a distribuição da movimentação ao longo do ano. E, emseguida, estima-se a capacidade de movimentação da via. Para desenvolver o projeto é feita uma compilação de diretrizes propostas para dimensionamento de terminais e de seus subsistemas (hidroviário, ferroviário, rodoviário, de armazenagem e de movimentação). Além disto, são analisados os critérios para avaliação do terminal. Antes de desenvolver o projeto, faz-se uma análise crítica dos terminais existentes na hidrovia, assinalando-se suas falhas. Para o dimensionamento do terminal são formuladas diversas configurações que envolvem combinações de diferentes taxas de movimentação e diferentes capacidades de armazenagem. Utilizando a técnica de simulação, com o emprego do software ARENA, obtém-se o desempenho destas configurações em termos de tempo de permanência para cada modal, que mede o nível de serviço oferecido pelo terminal. As alternativas geradas são, então, avaliadas em função do nível de serviço oferecido e do valor presente líquido do investimento, o que conduza escolha de melhor solução. / This thesis is related to the implementation of suitable intermodal terminals for solid bulk cargo with the purpose of increasing the inland waterway participation in the country transportation matrix . Firstly, it is presented a general view of the modal transportation distribution, mainly based on the highway modal, in which the deficiency of the existing inland terminals is stressed as a factor for this distribution. It is specified, therefore, as the purpose of this thesis, the development of the project of an intermodal terminal for the Tietê-Paraná waterway. As the first step of the study, it is performed an analysis of cargo demand as well as of the waterway capacity, in which it is defined: the type of cargo, the amount of cargo transported and its distribution along the year. It is also estimated the cargo demand for the future which remains below the waterway capacity. In order to prepare the project development, it is done a compilation of procedures recommended for multimodal terminals and their components (waterway, railway and highway ends, storage systems and cargo handling equipments). Besides, some criteria to evaluate the terminal performance are presented. A critical analysis of the waterway existing terminals is then presented and their drawbacks are pointed out. For the terminal project, some configurations, which involve combinations of different handling rates and storage capacities , are formulated. The performance evaluation of each option , in terms of vehicle stay time at the terminal, is done by probabilistic simulation technique, employing the commercial software ARENA. The generated options are then compared in terms of service level and net present value and the best configuration is then selected.

Submitted by Rosa Assis (rosa_assis@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-09-28T15:25:39Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Carlos Alberto Requeña.pdf: 13381498 bytes, checksum: 29b15da2c73df1e9328e46fbba3d467c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Paola Damato (repositorio@mackenzie.br) on 2016-10-03T14:06:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Carlos Alberto Requeña.pdf: 13381498 bytes, checksum: 29b15da2c73df1e9328e46fbba3d467c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Paola Damato (repositorio@mackenzie.br) on 2016-10-03T14:09:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Carlos Alberto Requeña.pdf: 13381498 bytes, checksum: 29b15da2c73df1e9328e46fbba3d467c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-03T14:09:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Carlos Alberto Requeña.pdf: 13381498 bytes, checksum: 29b15da2c73df1e9328e46fbba3d467c (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-04 / The city of São Paulo and the metropolitan region are closely linked to the history of the railroad, especially the lines of the corridor Santos to Jundiai corresponding to the first railway in the state of São Paulo. This rail link has provided the conditions for economic development of São Paulo, for streamlined coffee transport towards the port for export in a later period attire, distributed raw materials, products and industrial workers. The railroad was the means by which the metropolization form of São Paulo, took form with the railway stations becoming the centrality of the locations that later originated several municipalities, among which the leading center of the region known as "Grande ABC" (Great ABC), heavily industrialized region, of great importance in the national economic scenario. The adoption of road development policies from the second half of the twentieth century, at the expense of pre-installed railway infrastructure contributed to the stagnation of this mode of transport, which has suffered the reduction of public resources for modernization and also by reducing of industrial activity on its edge, attributed to changes in the economy that discouraged the industrial concentration in large urban centers. After its attempt to rescue the railways its of the general context of country’s the transport at on framework, the federal government privatized the cargo railway and handed to the state administration passenger transport system, in the 1990s. The CPTM (Paulista Company of Metropolitan Transportation), result of this second action, the has been making efforts in the recovery and improvement of the railway system of passengers, applying resources in the recovery and improvement of all the railways, providing passenger transport services in the RMSP (São Paulo Metropolitan Region). Among its six lines, one sees an imbalance in the implementation of these improvements in practice; mitigate the metropolis of mobility problems. Line 10 - Turquoise is the most recent one to receive improvement Works, despite connecting the Bras station to the municipality of Rio Grande da Serra, through the Great ABC, once industrial cities and reasonable economic development. This imbalance is even more noticeable when comparing Line 10 - Turquoise to Line 9 - Emerald, the only fully modernized line and meets the most developed region of the City of São Paulo, focusing the portion of the population with the highest income and the new tertiary economic pole located in the Luiz Carlos Berrini and Faria Lima region. A more detailed analysis shows that this imbalance is caused by more complex economic factors related the movement of cargo through the port of Santos, whose line 10 - Turquoise CPTM still plays an important complementary role in cargo flow. This study aims and presents the operational peculiarities of the rail system, display the particular difficulties of Line 10 - Turquoise, which still lives strongly with the activity of cargo transportation due to remnants of linked industrial activity to the railroad, causing an interference directly related to their operational performance with regards to passenger transportation. / A cidade de São Paulo e sua região metropolitana estão intimamente ligados à história da ferrovia, principalmente às linhas do corredor Santos a Jundiaí que corresponde à primeira ferrovia do Estado de São Paulo. Essa ligação ferroviária proporcionou as condições necessárias ao desenvolvimento econômico de São Paulo, pois dinamizou o transporte do café em direção ao porto para exportação e, no momento posterior, distribuiu as matérias primas, produtos e os trabalhadores da indústria. A ferrovia foi o meio pelo qual tomou forma metropolização de São Paulo, com as estações ferroviárias tornando-se as centralidades das localidades que, mais tarde, originaram vários municípios, dentre os quais os formadores da região conhecida como “Grande ABC paulista”, região fortemente industrializada e de importância relevante no cenário econômico nacional. A adoção de políticas de desenvolvimento rodoviário a partir da segunda metade do século XX, em detrimento da infraestrutura ferroviária pré-instalada, contribuíram para o quadro de estagnação desse modal de transporte, que sofreu pela diminuição dos recursos públicos para sua modernização e também pela redução da atividade industrial em sua orla, atribuída a mudanças na economia que desestimularam a concentração industrial nos grandes centros urbanos. Após tentativas próprias de resgatar o potencial das ferrovias no quadro de transportes do país, o Governo Federal privatizou o transporte ferroviário de cargas e passou para a administração do Estado de São Paulo o sistema de transporte de passageiros na década de 1990. A CPTM, resultado dessa segunda ação, vem empreendendo esforços na recuperação e melhoria do sistema de transporte ferroviário de passageiros, aplicando recursos na recuperação e melhoria de todas as ferrovias que prestavam serviço de transporte de passageiros na RMSP. Dentre suas seis linhas, percebe-se um desequilíbrio na implantação dessas melhorias que, na prática, mitigariam os problemas de mobilidade da metrópole. A Linha 10 – Turquesa é a mais atrasada em receber obras de melhorias apesar de ligar a estação Brás ao município de Rio Grande da Serra, passando justamente pelo Grande ABC, cidades outrora industriais e de razoável desenvolvimento econômico. Esse desequilíbrio se faz ainda mais perceptível ao comparar a Linha 10 – Turquesa à Linha 9 – Esmeralda, única linha totalmente modernizada e que atende à região mais desenvolvida da Cidade de São Paulo, concentrando a parcela da população de mais alta renda e o novo polo econômico terciário em formação na região da Avenida Luiz Carlos Berrini e Faria Lima. Uma análise mais pormenorizada determina que esse desequilíbrio é ocasionado por fatores econômicos mais complexos, relacionados à movimentação de cargas pelo porto de Santos, cuja linha 10 – Turquesa da CPTM ainda desempenha importante função complementar no fluxo de cargas. Esse estudo, visa além de apresentar as peculiaridades operacionais do sistema ferroviário, também exibir as dificuldades particulares da Linha 10 – Turquesa, que ainda convive fortemente com a atividade de cargas além de resquícios da atividade industrial atrelada à ferrovia, a interferirem diretamente no seu desempenho operacional no transporte de usuários.

Due to globalisation, transport policies have been changing and adapting to increase the demands and the needs of the market. Sea ports have a major role in the economic system in which they coordinate the transport of large volumes of cargo in long distances with a high level of productivity. The growth of handling cargo has led to increase congestion in roads because roads are the most used method to transport goods between port and its hinterland. This is the reason why many West European ports are working with train terminals as an alternative form of transport. As part of an intermodal case of study, we have focused on train terminal operations at the port of Barcelona, because currently there is not enough capacity, but it is expected to increase within the next ten years. Moreover, because of the limited geographicalarea, it is important to take in consideration the method for managing the logistics within the container terminal in Barcelona. The objective of this study is to develop a model to analyse and evaluate different types of horizontal transport between the yard and the train terminal at the port of Barcelona in order to identify the most suitable transport system. We compare five different transport systems under three scenarios. The results indicate that some horizontal transport systems are more efficient than others.

Cette thèse est une contribution aux travaux de recherche sur l’optimisation des problèmes du transport multimodal. Les principaux concepts clé de la multimodalité dans les réseaux du transport intermodal et l’état de l’art des travaux scientifique du domaine y sont présentés. Le problème de la localisation des terminaux du transport combiné est ensuite étudié. Nous proposons un algorithme génétique à codage mixte pour la résolution de ce problème et nous comparons nos résultats avec ceux de la littérature. Un ensemble de problèmes posés dans le cadre de notre travail sur le projet DCAS (Direct Cargo Axe Seine), porté par le Grand Port Maritime du Havre, y est décrit et modélisé par des outils de programmation mathématique. Ainsi, nous avons étudié le problème du transfert de navettes ferroviaires qui consiste à optimiser le transfert d’un ensemble de conteneurs entre des terminaux maritimes et un terminal multimodal. Ensuite, nous avons modélisé le problème d’ordonnancement des trains de grandes de lignes pour le placement sur les voies de la cour ferroviaire du terminal multimodal du Havre. Ces problèmes sont résolus en utilisant une approche combinée optimisation-simulation. Une première application est basée sur un algorithme génétique couplé avec la simulation multi agents pour l’affectation des voies aux trains. Une deuxième, consiste à optimiser la manutention des conteneurs lors d’un transbordement rail-rail en utilisant un algorithme de colonie de fourmis intégré dans le modèle de simulation et une stratégie de collaboration agents pour minimiser les temps d’attente des portiques et ainsi augmenter leurs productivités. / This thesis is a contribution to research on the optimization of multimodal transport problems. The main key concepts of multimodality in the intermodal transportation networks and the state of the art of scientific works in the field are presented. The intermodal terminal location problem is then studied. We propose a genetic algorithm with mixed encoding for solving this problem and we compare our results with those of literature. A set of problems in the framework of our work on the project DCAS (Direct Cargo Axe Seine), carried by the Grand Port Maritime du Havre, are described and modeled by mathematical programming tools. Thus, we studied the problem of the transfer of rail shuttles which is to optimize the transfer of a set of containers between maritime terminals and a multimodal terminal. We then modeled the scheduling problem of freight trains for placement on rail tracks. These problems are solved by using combined optimization simulation approaches. A first application is based on a genetic algorithm coupled with the multi agent’s simulation. A second is to optimize a rail-rail transshipment of containers using an ant colony algorithm embedded in the simulation model and an agent’s collaboration strategy to minimize waiting times and increase cranes productivity.541 ##‎$a@Optimization of multimodal transportation problems

South Africa is faced with a situation where-by the general public has a negative perception of public transport. It is a fact that generally the lower income employees use public transport to get to work and back, whether it is buses, taxis, or trains. In the past, the combination of users and misinformed planning philosophies led to interchanges/ranks that were un-user friendly, and uninviting. However, the South African government has embarked upon a campaign to make public transport the heartbeat of the South African economy, and to improve the general public perception. Along with the hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the country finds itself under pressure to implement a safe, efficient, and user-friendly public transport system. This dissertation investigates means and principles of designing functional interchanges that incorporate civic activity and participation. Beyond Function seeks to recapture the social dimension of transport interchanges since; these are the converging or meeting spaces and gateways into the cities, there exists a need to be celebrated. The philosophical orientation is towards commuter convenient facilities, thus heightening the spirit of travel. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Architecture / unrestricted