Monthly Archives: August 2013

Can Maritime Logistics Maintain the Need?

In the last two decades there has been tremendous changes in the direction of its circulation and also both the quantity of world trade. Newly growing economies in Asia, particularly goods from China, have caused substantial increases within the amount of freight that is coming into the US, up as much as 280% in Californian ports. It has put pressure on port services across the board and caused many to challenge how ports can improve their performance to stay informed of the pace that is certainly being fixed by the huge increase in containerized imports. Part of the issue has been a lack of infrastructure, which has contributed to a severe congestion of the supply-chain for these newly imported goods. Every delay within the flow of freight adds to its total handling costs. There are even growing shortages of trucks to eliminate containers from the storage services in our ports. Further exacerbating the problem is that in systems that are already working at capacity, there is inadequate redundancy and few alternatives in case of breakdowns, which increase the bottleneck in our harbors. Aside from the problems of infrastructure there is, in addition, a growing staff shortage. As logistics have become…
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Port Congestion a Growing Problem

Port congestion can be compared to the sort of stop and go conditions which take place when too many cars crowd onto one expanse of road. Everyone’s time is wasted. The same thing occurs with boats in ports which are congested. They need to fall into line and watch for a spot to open where they could dock and unload their cargo. Ports have more limits than highways, however, when it comes to congestion. They can-not simply expand to accommodate more boats more cars can be handled by the way highways. Creating more docking space is not going to help if the crews and the cranes that use them usually do not also improve at the same rate. The bottleneck may lie in inadequate access roads or rail lines to move cargo in and out of the port. Lack of warehouse space rarely appears to be the issue, but numerous other infrastructure shortfalls may be concerned. Port congestion could be temporary in nature in case a calamity of some form has affected the port’s normal operation. Storms and other weather events can damage until repairs are finished the facilities that will impede cargo handling. Industrial accidents and fires may also…
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In It for the Long Haul, Logistics and Truck Freight

The trucking industry is broken up into several groups, depending on the kind of cargo and the space moved. For the very long term, the kind of truck used is known as a semi truck. These vehicles are a vital element in business for transferring raw materials and works in progress along with finished goods. In the USA, trucks haul the majority of merchandise moved over property and are crucial to nearly all aspects of the market. Where is officially referred to as logistics keeping track of whatever is going. Whilst the trucks themselves continue to show developments in such crucial areas as safety and fuel economy, it’s the end of the business that has seen the greatest advances in the last several decades. Computers, GPS units, and mobile communication devices have revolutionized how goods are tracked, and have streamlined the charging end of the business. The industry continues to be forced into complying with ever stricter restrictions on emissions and higher mileage standards, and these two goals are helping to be met by increasing reliance on bio fuels combined in to diesel fuel. Many ports now employ “shore power” systems which let trucks to shut off their engines while…
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Intermodal Freight Transport and Environmental Sustainability

The entire world was opened up by the expansion of transport networks including ports and shipping, railways and contemporary highways, so that it is now commonplace for produce in one part of the planet to make its way to a marketplace on the opposite aspect of the earth. The widespread utilization of containers for shipping goods has allowed for the development of a huge intermodal freight transport network that we’ve all come to depend on. As this has increased the variety of goods available to everyone else it has also significantly put into carry costs and the amount of electricity that it now takes to bring goods to the customer who wants to purchase them. The American transport networks will be the busiest in the entire world and US railways only take more cargo than every one of Western Europe’s network combined. Actually two-thirds of each of the oil which is utilized in the United States is consumed within the transportation sector while container and bulk cargo ships make up nearly 3% of the world’s whole carbon footprint. With dwindling fuel reserves, increasing operating expenses and also the debut of carbon taxes in several states, transport companies have already been…
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High Speed Rail: Getting America Back on the Right Track

On April 2009 President Obama announced his economic stimulus package that was to put the American economy straight back on the path to recovery. In the intervening years that budgetary allowance is now less certain until finally Congress determined to eliminate it altogether in November 2012. While this is obviously a major drawback to the strategy it is by no means the end of the project. Currently there’s a bullet train network being built in California linking Fresno and Bakersfield that’s just the beginning of the developments nationally. At first it might look like high speed railway is something of the luxury toy for first world nations but the real rationale is actually much deeper. By creating trusted alternatives to road and air travel along the busiest travel routes high speed railway contributes to the reduction of congestion, reduces carbon emissions and fuel consumption and frees up resources like fuel and rolling stock for other sorts of cargo. With all of the added time that now goes with air travel it can even be quicker to travel by high speed rail for short to middle distance trips. The greatest advantage of investing in high speed railway is in its own…
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Fuel Economy a Must in Transport

Bikes are available in first, in regards to fuel efficiency of vehicles. Given the number of calories it takes to operate them, bicycles are unquestionably the most effective method of transport, nevertheless today’s world has a need to move so much stuff that bicycles can only carry a tiny portion. The rest should be carried by motorized vehicles, which are usually powered by means of an oil-based fuel. Given the growing knowledge of its limited availability and the rising costs of oil, increasing consideration has been paid to lowering usage rates in transportation vehicles. Additionally, truck motors are being refashioned to take advantage of new strategies for injecting fuel into cylinders. Preheating and pressurized injection of fuel enables faster and more complete combustion, boosting power while also reducing emissions. Natural-gas may be used where it really is plentiful to power trucks. This gives a cleaner-burning alternative to oil-based diesel. The actual amount of fuel expended per unit of cargo is declining, while boats continue to grow larger in capacity and fuel consumption. For instance, a ten thousand container ship will burn more gas than 1 with five thousand, but it will burn relatively less than two times as much. The…
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Gulf Coast, Transport, plus Our Devotion to the Environment

The Gulf Coast of the United States of America constitutes one of the richest fisheries on earth. Over a billion dollars annually in shrimp, shell-fish, as well as other marine species are picked within the coastal waters of this region. Unfortunately, both the wetlands and offshore waters of the zone face multiple environmental threats. A large dead zone covering millions of acres is located off the mouth of the Mississippi River as chemical fertilizers wash downstream from farms. The nutritional elements in the plant foods spawn alga blooms, whose decay depletes oxygen, rendering a huge area void of life. Millions of acres of marshlands have disappeared into the ocean on account of erosion. Channels are dredged through the wetlands for gas and oil drilling, and other varieties of developments, such as marinas. This cause large areas of land to clean away, and the sediment had a need to replenish them is to a big extent being flushed out to sea from the Mississippi due to a system intended for river transportation and flood control. The oil spill also devastated the local fishing and tourism sectors along Gulf Coast beaches. Efforts are now being designed to help restore wetlands and get…
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Railway along with the Future of Global Shipping

Since railroads give the cheapest way of transporting goods over land and ships are truly the most economical type of transit by sea, it’s simply natural for both methods to become increasingly intertwined inside the continuing expansion of global trade. An identical connection is to be found between truck transportation and rail transportation. Both developments vital to improvements in communications helped by cell phones, computers, and other mobile devices. All work together to produce for a smooth transition movement that enables goods to more easily reach their destinations. While ships may proceed at slow speeds over long-distance, the reality that much of their freight now moves by container means that items may be moved around the globe in the same relative amount of time they were moved nationwide, within the case of the States only a few decades ago. It isn’t so much the ships have sped up, although they are moving about 20 percent faster than they used to, but because merchandise not sits around a warehouse so long waiting to be sorted out before moving out to promote. Containers have noticeably decreased the time goods spend being warehoused, both in transit by ship and rail. The entire impact…
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Trucks Face Long Delays at Ports

This has produced truck congestion a choke point for continuing growth in these types of places. Too often this strangulation threatens to eventually become literal, as a large number of idling trucks add a huge level of pollutants to the air. Nearby residents and port workers risk respiratory damage from most of the diesel particulates they breathe. Cities like La that have made enormous efforts to lessen emissions from cars and stationary sources find that their efforts are being thwarted by growing levels of exhausts from trucks. To ease congestion, some ports are switching to round the clock functions. Presently, most ports only operate within each day shift. The hours are usually from 7 a.m. To 5 p.m. It may also act as an irritant to nearby citizens who might not value the noise created by trucks rolling along through the night, while keeping terminals and other facilities open for operation 24 hours a day might lessen congestion. Delivery companies have mixed views on enlarging hours. They worry the volume of traffic might not merit staying open so long. Their position on truck congestion is that the problem lies in insufficient infrastructure in the ports themselves and in adjacent regions.…
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