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This thesis focuses on decision support for regional LTL carriers. The basic operating characteristics of regional LTL carriers are similar to those of national LTL carriers, i.e., they operate linehaul networks with satellites, breakbulks, and relays to consolidate freight so as to be able to cost-effectively serve their customers. However, there are also key differences. Most importantly, because the area covered by a regional carrier is smaller, a regional carrier handles less freight (sometimes significantly less) and therefore typically has fewer consolidation opportunities, which results in higher handling and transportation costs per unit of freight. Consequently, competing with national carriers on price is difficult. Therefore, to gain or maintain market share, regional carriers have to provide better service. To be able to provide better service, regional carriers have to be more dynamic, e.g., they have to be able to deviate from their load plan when appropriate, which creates challenges for decision makers. Regional carriers deliver about 60% of their shipments within a day and almost all of their shipments within two days. Furthermore, most drivers get back to their domicile at the end of each day. Therefore, the focus of the thesis is the development of effective and efficient decision models supporting daily operations of regional LTL carriers which provide excellent service at low cost. This thesis presents an effective solution approach based on two optimization models: a dynamic load planning model and a driver assignment model. The dynamic load planning model consists of two parts: an integer program to generate the best paths for daily origin-destination freight volumes and an integer program to pack freight into trailers and trailers into loads, and to determine dispatch times for these loads. Techniques to efficiently solve these integer program solution are discussed in detail. The driver assignment model is solved in multiple stages, each stage requiring the solution of a set packing models in which columns represent driver duties. Each stages determines admissible driver duties. The quality and efficiency of the solution approach are demonstrated through a computational study with real-life data from one of the largest regional LTL carriers in the country. An important "technique" for reducing driver requirements is the use of meet-and-turn operations. A basic meet-and-turn operation involves two drivers meeting at a location in between terminals and exchange trucks. A parking lot or a rest area suffices as a meet-and-turn location. This ensures that drivers return to the terminal where they started. More sophisticated meet-and-turn operations also exist, often called drop and hook operations. In this case, drivers do not exchange trucks, but one of their trailers. The motivation in this case is not to get drivers back to their domicile, but to reduce load- miles. The thesis presents analytical results quantifying the maximum benefits of using meet and turn operations and optimization techniques for identifying profitable meet-and-turn opportunities.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose_Ary_Garcia_de_Lima.pdf: 676236 bytes, checksum: 3b4f0905d165dc1470ced7c006988eac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-25 / In an essential and highly competitive economical branch as the road transport of loads, the effective administration depends of accurate and timely information to support the decisive process. The experienced verification of the difficulties of those companies in obtaining such information this research was orientated to reach the objective of verifying as the companies of road transport of loads use the instruments of the managerial accounting for the administration of costs, prices and investments. The research was accomplished through a study of multiple cases, in six companies of the branch, located in the State of S??o Paulo, through of semi-structured interviews, starting from the previous verification by questionnaires about the existence of the unit of research, the costing process, pricing and analysis of investments and with the application of previous tests validating the script of interviews used. It was verified that the researched companies know the instruments, however they still are not used in her fullness, mainly in the process of analysis of investments, dependent of the managers' intuition. As for the process of costing of the services, it was observed that the variable costing is the method more used, much more for the intrinsic needs of the business than for a conscious choice together to the conditionality of market of esteeming the costs through the cost-pattern and that the determination of prices by mark-up it is the method more used. / Em um ramo econ??mico essencial e altamente competitivo como o transporte rodovi??rio de cargas, a gest??o eficaz depende de informa????es precisas e tempestivas para apoiar o processo decis??rio. Na constata????o experimentada das dificuldades dessas empresas em obter tais informa????es norteou-se esta pesquisa para alcan??ar o objetivo de verificar nas empresas de transporte rodovi??rio de cargas a utiliza????o dos instrumentos da contabilidade gerencial para a gest??o de custos, pre??os e investimentos. A pesquisa foi realizada por meio de um estudo de m??ltiplos casos em seis empresas do ramo, localizadas no estado de S??o Paulo, atrav??s de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, a partir da verifica????o pr??via por question??rios estruturados sobre a exist??ncia da unidade de pesquisa, o processo de custeio, precifica????o e an??lise de investimentos, posteriormente ?? aplica????o de pr??-testes para validar o roteiro de entrevistas empregado. Constatou-se que as empresas pesquisadas conhecem os instrumentos, por??m, ainda n??o s??o utilizados em sua plenitude, principalmente no processo de an??lise de investimentos, dependente da intui????o dos gestores. Quanto ao processo de custeio dos servi??os, observou-se que o custeio vari??vel ?? o m??todo mais utilizado, muito mais pelas necessidades intr??nsecas do neg??cio do que por uma escolha consciente, juntamente ?? condicionante mercadol??gica de se estimar os custos atrav??s do custo-padr??o e que a precifica????o por mark-up ?? o m??todo mais utilizado.

This research provides an example delay calculation for long-haul single unit and combination trucks on Interstate-75 (I-75) in Georgia. Truck profiles on Georgia interstates are used to calculate the value of freight by truck type and commodity moved. Determining the types of trucks and commodities moved within the state of Georgia allows the researcher to monetize the effect of recurring congestion by location in addition to the cost of lost time. A more accurate calculation of delay based on truck type and commodity moved will better inform the Georgia Department of Transportation about the performance of Georgia's major truck routes and its potential effect on the local economy. A review of past research on this topic found that the calculated cost of delay in previous studies varied widely based on truck and commodity type. The identification of the types of commodities moved can assist in better monetizing the value of truck freight. Using forecast data on future truck traffic volume increases in the corridor, the growing importance of putting a value on different types of truck freight delay costs are demonstrated.

Due to the significant cost of transport in the sugar industry, a model, named FastTrack, was developed to investigate infrastructure planning opportunities. The model mathematically incorporates road construction and maintenance costs, terrain and land-use maps, vehicle performance specifications and annual sugarcane volumes to determine the most cost effective route, per vehicle type, from a production region to a mill. Route planning using geographical information systems (GIS) is a standard approach for determining the optimum alignment for pipelines, roads and canals. Theory of this approach was reviewed to create a foundation for the development of FastTrack. A small portion of the Noodsberg sugar mill region in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands was selected as a case study area to test the capabilities of FastTrack. A start location was identified as a natural flow point for 70 000 tons of sugarcane hauled from an area south of the mill. Currently this volume is transported along a 9.3 km stretch of national road from the start location to the sugar mill, while the Euclidean distance is approximately 7 km. Three vehicle types, differing in payload, fuel consumption and road speed were assessed. Two common and currently utilised vehicles, the tractor hilo and interlink combinations, were aligned by FastTrack along existing national roads. A financial penalty for driving on national roads was assumed for the third vehicle type considered, land trains, as these are currently not permitted to operate on national roads in South Africa. This high bulk vehicle was selected to test the capabilities of FastTrack and to identify if cost savings could be realised through increased consignment capacity as has been achieved in Australia, Malawi and Brazil. Utilising the model a new and more direct theoretical route was generated for the land train with a length of 7.4 km. Existing farm roads which would require upgrading made up 34 % of this proposed route. An economic analysis was conducted and showed that under current conditions, the private route generated by FastTrack for land train use, would be the most cost effective, with a system cost of R 57.50 t" . The tractor hilo and interlink had system costs of R 59.58 t" and R 60.98 t"1 respectively. Repeating the economic analysis with projected fuel prices indentified that the cost saving advantage of the land train system over the other two vehicle configurations increases with increasing fuel costs. A rigorous validation process, including a sensitivity analysis of results from FastTrack, revealed that the model performs predictably under a wide range of input conditions and could be a valuable tool for decision making in the sugar industry. However, further research is required to combine more economic and logistical aspects into FastTrack and to increase its usability. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The aim of the research was to assess what competitive advantage a Removals company could expect to gain by outsourcing its driver function to owner drivers. An extensive literature review identified key outsourcing issues. The literature was related to a case study of Stuttaford Van Lines (SVL), a company that is experiencing problems with its current independent contractor driver arrangements and that needs to review its outsourcing decision. In order to learn from best practice in the field of outsourcing to owner drivers, a benchmarking exercise was undertaken at South African Breweries (SAB). The benchmarking exercise identified six key issues that contributed to the success of the SAB owner driver scheme. These points, together with others identified from the literature, were integrated into a recommended outsourcing implementation process for SVL. The research found that it is possible for SVL to outsource the driver function to owner drivers and that such a scheme can be expected to improve customer service levels. The success of the scheme will depend on the selection of the drivers and how effectively it is managed. It was found that it would not be profitable for SVL to outsource to owner drivers using the compensation model proposed. Cost reduction is however only one of the factors to consider in an outsourcing decision.

This diploma thesis deals with the changes of toll taxes and their implication in the Czech Republic between years 2007 -- 2015. The research was done using a dynamic regression analysis of monthly data provided by the web portal MYTO CZ. Based on the available data it was shown that the increase in average prices of toll transactions of ecologically unfavorable EURO groups leads to a decline in the share of total realized transactions. As a result carriers are most likely motivated to vehicle fleet renewal, which is reflected in the increase in the share of cars with lower environmental load.

The United States trucking industry underwent deregulation starting in 1980. There was much opposition to the process in fears that trucking companies would be adversely affected by increased competition. There were also many proponents and researchers who proved that the increased competition due to regulatory reform only helped strengthen the industry by forcing firms to become more cost efficient. There has been similar opposition and support for the trucking provisions of NAFTA. Although the provisions have not been fully implemented, the trucking industry is well aware it will only be a matter of time. In early 2002 it was announced that the process to begin implementing the trucking provisions would begin in mid-2002. Many in the industry and other groups have opposed implementing the provisions, concerned that U.S. trucking firms would be subject to competition from Mexican firms, just as they feared trucking firms would be adversely affected by deregulation more than 25 years ago. This thesis analyzes the effects the 2002 announcement of the process to begin implementing the trucking provisions has had on the cost structure of the industry. It uses a translog cost function to determine if firms have become more efficient in the years following the announcement in anticipation of increased competition from Mexican firms after the provisions are fully implemented. The translog cost function is used to determine what effects the NAFTA variable has had on costs and what specific operating characteristics have caused the costs to increase or decrease.

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