Access management for road hauliers and rail operators in intermodal freight terminals
Doctoral thesis, 2020

A pivotal element in the transport industry, intermodal freight transport, is rather complex due to the numerous transport modes and actors involved. Terminal operators in intermodal freight transport face major challenges to provide seamless flows of containers via their terminals. Seamless flows are achievable by bridging gaps between large-scale transport operators (e.g. shipping lines) and small-scale transport operators (e.g. road hauliers and rail operators). Effective access processes can not only bridge those gaps but also contribute to decreasing turnaround times for trucks and trains. By applying the access processes, small-scale transport operators can receive access to specific resources in terminals. An effective access process can be achieved when transport resources (e.g. trucks and truck drivers) can be managed together with terminal resources (e.g. straddle carriers and straddle carrier drivers). In this thesis, such management is termed access management, defined as managing the process by which actors access resources at terminals. Guided by that concept, the thesis seeks to increase the understanding of how access management for road hauliers and rail operators in intermodal freight terminals can contribute to decreasing turnaround times for trucks and trains.

The thesis is a compilation of five papers reporting studies that involved literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, participant observations and time measurements. Whereas the literature reviews focused on the topics of access management and information exchange, the collected data were analysed by implementing several analytical frameworks developed for the thesis. The results of using those frameworks clarified how effective access to resources at intermodal freight terminals can be managed, especially by explaining four dynamics: (1) how different information services can contribute to decreasing turnaround times for trucks and trains, (2) how those services can affect activity performance and resource utilisation, (3) how the required and most relevant attributes of information can be exchanged in real time among actors involved and (4) how and when such attributes need to be automatically collected and exchanged. Following from those results, the chief finding is that terminal operators can effectively manage transport and terminal processes, as well as decrease turnaround for trucks and trains, by using access management services that allow exchanging information in real time. From the empirical findings of the studies conducted, six propositions are formulated and justified.

rail operators

turnaround times

intermodal freight transport

information exchange

road hauliers

information services

intermodal freight terminals

Access management

Live stream via Zoom
Opponent: Prof. Dr. Ralf Elbert, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

Author

Stefan Jacobsson

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Service Management and Logistics

Intermodal freight transport is rather complex due to the numerous transport modes and actors involved. Terminal operators in intermodal freight transport systems face major challenges to provide seamless flows of containers via their facilities. Seamless flows are achievable by bridging gaps between large-scale transport operators (e.g. shipping lines) and small-scale transport operators (e.g. road hauliers and rail operators). Effective access processes can not only bridge those gaps but also contribute to decreasing turnaround times for trucks and trains. By applying these processes, small-scale transport operators can receive access to specific resources in terminals. An effective access process can be achieved when transport resources (e.g. trucks and truck drivers) can be managed together with terminal resources (e.g. straddle carriers and straddle carrier drivers) in the right way at the right time. In the thesis, this is termed access management, defined as managing the process by which actors access resources at terminals. Guided by that concept, the thesis seeks to increase the understanding of how access management for road hauliers and rail operators in intermodal freight terminals can contribute to decreasing turnaround times for trucks and trains.

This thesis develops a number of frameworks that clarify how effective access to resources at intermodal freight terminals can be managed, especially by explaining four dynamics: (1) how different information services can contribute to decreasing turnaround times for trucks and trains, (2) how those services can contribute to effective activity performance and resource utilisation, (3) how real-time exchange of a subset of required and most relevant attributes is sufficient to enable effective access processes, and (4) how and when such attributes need to be automatically collected and exchanged a week, a day and two hours in advance to enable effective access processes. Following from those results, the main finding is that terminal operators can effectively manage transport and terminal processes, as well as decrease turnaround for trucks and trains, by using access management services that allow exchanging information in real time.

DREAMIT - Digital accesshantering i realtid för intermodala transporter

VINNOVA (2016-05436), 2017-03-01 -- 2020-03-31.

REACH – Real-time access management in intermodal freight transport system

VINNOVA (2014-03946), 2014-09-01 -- 2016-12-31.

Logistik- och transport stiftelsen LTS (REACH), 2014-09-01 -- 2016-12-31.

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Transport Systems and Logistics

Business Administration

Areas of Advance

Information and Communication Technology

Transport

ISBN

978-91-7905-317-8

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 4784

Publisher

Chalmers

Live stream via Zoom

Online

Opponent: Prof. Dr. Ralf Elbert, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

More information

Latest update

5/28/2020