FREIGHTTRANSPORT SOCIETY AND PLANNING

MSc TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING AND PLANNING (PT)LECTURER: CHRIS MILLS

STUDENT: BABER BEGSTUDENT No.: 3301044

London South Bank UniversitySchool of the Built Environment and Architecture103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AAwww.lsbu.ac.ukTRANSPORT PLANNING AND SOCIETYBaber BegStudent ID: 3301044

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Contents1.INTRODUCTION32.FREIGHT TRANSPORT33.LOGISTICS34.TOWARDS THE FUTURE45.THE USE OF SOFTWARE46.CONCLUSION5

INTRODUCTIONFreight is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as Goods transported in bulk by truck, train, ship, or aircraft. In this briefing note an overview of the methodologies currently employed to move freight throughout the UK is presented and possible improvements to freight transportation by utilising the available distribution networks within the UK. These can be by air, land or sea and/or any combination of these depending on the demand by the customers.

FREIGHT TRANSPORT Logistics as defined as the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet some requirements, of customers or corporations.[endnoteRef:1] The goods can be anything from food, livestock, materials, equipment and liquids but can also include abstract items such as data, energy, and particles. [1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistics]

The logistics involved in the moving physical items is the integration of information flow, material handling, production packaging, inventory, transportation, and warehousing. This can be modelled and optimised by utilising specialised software to provide real time simulations (for example the use of Vissim to show the impacts on the road network). These help in achieving minimal use of resources which is the norm for logistics. In the UK all the methods air, land and sea are used where the costs can be minimalised by the freight carrier services. For example when a customer orders items from Amazon UK, based in Swansea. The goods heading to say London are collated together and sent by road to depots in London closest to the postcodes where the goods need to be delivered to the customers. They are then delivered by the local distribution network to customers places of residence/ work. This may seem a simple operation but careful scrutiny will show the complexity of this task. For example if the vehicle transporting the goods were to suffer a breakdown, or the along the route chose there was a spillage or an over-turned vehicle or a collision. The knock on effect of this would be delays in the delivery of the item to the destination resulting in the possible loss of a valuable customer. There must be communication along the way as soon as the driver hits a delay of more than say 30 minutes, he must relay this information back to the main for them to send another vehicle via an alternative route to avoid the delays. However, whilst this maybe possible for say electronic goods, it would not be possible for say livestock or food. It would then be up to the freight transporter to relay the information to the customer. Commitments for freight transport must be honoured to achieve customer satisfaction.LOGISTICSModes with lower costs are utilised for long distance haulage of freight. For example rail and river would be cheaper than by road and air. Vehicles using the road would be using up more energy and producing a larger carbon footprint. Another limitation would be the size of the vehicle with the load it can carry in comparison with say a train or barge. With air freight you have the limitation of time delays in loading and unloading the hold, then transferring the loads to a vehicle to take to deliver to the customer.Improvements in rail and marine infrastructure and services to provide alternative competitive modes. For example the introduction of high speed around the world has encouraged the movement of freight via this mode.Satellite Navigation or Satnav system is a system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. It allows small electronic receivers to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude) to high precision (within a few metres) using time signals transmitted along a line of sight by radio from satellites. The signals also allow the electronic receivers to calculate the current local time to high precision, which allows time synchronisation.[endnoteRef:2] This has been used extensively by road hauliers transporting freight; the satnav providing the shortest route between origin and destination. However, it has been known to fail on occasion although these cases are far and few between. [2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_navigation]

TOWARDS THE FUTUREThe advances made in our technologies since the early 20th Century has enabled us to be better equipped and more adaptive to change. One such change in the UK Governments approach has been to improve the rail infrastructure and by providing high speed rail. This will encourage a modal shift to more people using rail when they can see the benefits provided i.e. faster journey times, reliability of service and the fact that both passengers and freight can be transported at the same time. The government can introduce pricing reforms that will encourage more efficient freight transport (Kgeson and Dings 1999)[endnoteRef:3]. [3: Per Kgeson and Jos Dings (1999), Electronic Kilometre Charging for Heavy Goods Vehicles in Europe, European Federation for Transport and Environment (www.t-e.nu).]

Firms can increase the efficiency of their own distribution networks, becoming more reliant on rail/ marine transport for medium and long-distances. This will encourage the development and usage of more local suppliers thereby encouraging regeneration within smaller communities.The UK Government and the private sector can support research and education programs that improve best practices in the transport of freight. Hall (2007)[endnoteRef:4] recommends that port communities should plan to increase sustainability and prepare for changing demands due to possible increases in future energy costs. [4: Peter V. Hall (2007), Seaports, Urban Sustainability, and Paradigm Shift, Journal of Urban Technology (www.tandf.co.uk), Vol. 14, No. 2, August 2007, pp. 87-101.]

THE USE OF SOFTWAREThe most powerful tool for improving the efficiency of freight/logistics management is new software development. IT platforms can optimise the performance of existing infrastructure through the implementation of systems, services, and projects designed to preserve capacity and improve security, safety, and reliability. As has been seen with software programmes such as PICADY, OSCADY. ARCADY, LINSIG and VISSIM.Traffic detection and surveillances has been integrated into modern software solutions. Traffic control and arterial management information can be provided from a central hub across the road network and with the variable message signs can enable drivers to avoid unnecessary traffic queues.We have made technological advances to enable us to predict weather conditions so we can be prepared. However, last year with the rains we were unprepared for the flooding that occurred due to the short-sightedness of politicians. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are advanced applications which, without embodying intelligence as such, aim to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable various users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and 'smarter' use of transport networks.[endnoteRef:5] [5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_transportation_system]

CONCLUSIONFreight transportation requires logistics to improvement its efficiency. The advent of advanced software programmes has greatly aided the advances made in this field. There is no doubt that freight management is a complicated task with so many intricate interconnecting parts. We need to be able to review the parts together to see which one fit the problem we are modelling and determine the best solutions which can provide the best valued benefits to the supplier, the freight companies and customer.

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