611
1 INTRODUCTION
In many academic papers, as well as in many
statementsofthebusinessspecialistsonlogistics,one
can find an opinion that warehousing is nearly the
main indicator measuring the inefficiency of supply
chains[1,2].Theassessmentandoptimizationcriteria
usually include stock sizes as negative values,
the
just‐in‐timeprincipleisablolutisated,thepresenceof
stocks in delivery channels is criticized and
eliminationofthesestocksservesasatopobjectiveof
the supply chain structure’s optimization [3, 4, 5].
Mainmethodologicalreasonbehindthisperceptionis
in the significant difference between the objects and
subjects of the two disciplines, logistics and
transportationlogistics.Theintentiontogetridofany
stockscouldbecomparedwiththelonglasteddesire
touseonly“direct”operationsinseaports,i.e.those
not using transit warehouses [6]. In modern port‐
oriented logistics this principle is abandoned, the
sizes of the warehouses and socks stored on them
beingregardednotonlyinevitable,butevenserving
as important instruments for system‐wise
optimizationoftransportandlogisticmechanisms[7].
This paper offers the decisive rule to distinguish
between the gnoseological domains of general and
transportation logistics, investigates the factors
caused
the shift of this perception in maritime
transport, and explains the necessity for similar
changes in the field of design and management of
global logistic supply chains, which is the best
definition for the “transportation logistics” as the
scientificdiscipline.
Methodological Problems of Modern Transportation
Logistics
A.L.Kuznetsov&A.V.Kirichenko
A
dmiralMakarovStateUniversityofMaritimeandInlandShipping,Saint‐Petersburg,Russia
ABSTRACT:Theterminologyandconceptualapparatusofmodernlogisticsasascientificdisciplineisfarfrom
beingshaped.Researchesanddevelopersoflegislativeandnorm‐settingdocuments areobliged tousetheir
ownorbarrowedterminology,inbothcase
notsharedubiquitously.Consequently,theinterpretationsevenof
basicconceptsdiffersignificantly.Inparticular,thereexistsanacademicandpracticalpointofviewthatrefuse
the right for existence of the term “transportation logistics”. This clause is explained by the proclaimed
omnipresence and universality of logistics, which has in its
operational glossary the term “transportation”,
treated as a local, subordinated and thus secondary function. This paper tries to set a decisive rule to
distinguishbetweengenerallogisticsandtransportationlogistics,arguingthatthesetwodisciplinesarewell
separatedbytheobjectsandmethodology, knowledge and activities. In transportation logisticsdefined this
waytheauthorsexaminetwoprincipalcomponentsofthetransportationprocesses,storage(warehousing)and
movement(shipping).Thisconsiderationleadtoconclusionsthattheclassicalmathematicaltoolkitisnotfitted
forthedesignandmanagementofmodernglobalsupplychains.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 12
Number 3
September 2018
DOI:10.12716/1001.12.03.21
612
Figure1.Relationsbetweendifferententitiesandcategoriesinasinglelogisticsupplychain
Figure2.Logisticsupplychain
2 METHODSANDMATERIALS
Traditionally, any system is defined as a set of
elements and interconnections between them, aimed
to carry out a certain activity (or “achieve a certain
goal”)[8].Thegoalofanytransportationsystemisto
satisfy an existing demand for a product by the
correspondedsupplyof
it.Anyofthesetwogeneral
categories are characterized by their own specific
spacelocalization,valueanddynamics.
The demand could emerge in some pointА, the
supplytosatisfyit–inadistancedpointВ.Inorderto
annihilatethisdemand‐supplypairthetransportation
ofthebearer
betweenthesetwopointsisneeded.An
abstractrelationbetweenabovementionedentitiesin
asinglesupplychainisdisplayedbyFig.1.
Logistic objects, transforming resources into
products and exchanging them among each other,
constitute complex and ramified space of links. Any
sub‐setoftheselinks,selectedbyad
hoccriteriafitted
to a certain research task, form abstract logistic
conceptofsupplychain(Fig.2).
If the subjects – the bearers of the demand (e.g.
touristsorfishermen)aretransportedtothe location
of the supply to satisfy it, the passenger
transportation link appears. If the demand is
to be
satisfied by a certain product that the manufacturer
sells to the consumer (thus turning products into
goods), then the goods transportation link emerges.
The goods to bemoved in the interests of the seller
(manufacturer) to the buyer (consumer) by a third
party(carrier)becomecargo.
The relevant super
‐system, whose structure is
oriented not for single act of one pair of demand‐
supplyannihilation,butforensuringthesatisfaction
of steady and massive set of permanently emerging
pairs of the kind, located in different geographic
regions, and responsible for sufficiently big total
volume of cargo (i.e. goods and
i.e. products),
constitutes solitary and stand‐alone cargo
transportation system. This system consolidates the
multidimensional array of demand‐supply pairs,
setting in motion the required material flows in the
same way as the world trade system consolidates
themintheaspectoftheeconomicexchangecovered
bytradeagreementsandcontracts.
Thecorrespondent
material and all relevant flows (information,
monetary, title, insurance etc.) should be not only
sufficientlybig,butquasi‐stableandquasi‐stationary,
thus justifying the expenses for creation and
maintenanceofthecargotransportationsystem.
Figure3. Transportation between two sets of demand‐
supplypairsastheobjectoftransportationlogistics
Fig. 3 illustrates a simplified concept of the
transportation system that satisfies the demand for
transportation generated by a set of single logistic
613
supply‐chains between two arbitrary geographical
areas(seafacadesinthiscase).
Under this problem statement, the transportation
logistics involves only movement of cargo, thus
excluding productive operations, i.e. any
transformations ofinbound resources into outbound
products. Instead of that, thetransportation logistics
focuses on the operations of consolidation and
distribution of cargo, optimized by criteria of
differenttransportmodesandtheircombinations.The
newtransport‐logisticchainsappeared asthe resultof
thisconsideration,reflectanothermeasurementofthe
space formed by the global material production,
distribution and consumption. As Fig. 4 shows, the
size and complexityof these
chains do notcede the
supplychainsoftraditionallogistics(Fig.2).
Figure4Transport‐logisticsupplychain
The definition of the content, the design of the
structure of this big and autonomous system, the
formulationofthelowsofitsoperation,thestudyof
itsefficiency andstabilityisthecoreofthescientific
discipline called the transportation logistics. The
relevant and equal by the scale, complexity and
coverage trade system (territorial, regional,
international, global) serves as the “teleological
environment” for the existence and development of
the transportation logistics system. At the lowest
“ground”level ofthelogisticsupplychains regarding
the flows of individual products, the transport
function turns into a component of the inbound or
outbound
logistics, according the traditional
definitions [9]. In many ways, this the function in
general logistics assumes the knowledge of how to
use the cargo transportation system of proper level.
Asa meanofsupportingtheinternationaltrade,the
transportationlogisticsformitsownscientificdomain
withownspecificlowsandmethods.
The absence or disappearance of the above
mentioned set of constantly emerging pairs of
demand‐supply causes the collapse of the
transportation system, the lack of the possibility to
delivercargoleadtotheprincipalinabilitytosatisfy
thedemand.
Movement of product between points A and B
locatedin
differentgeographicalregionsisnoa sole
goal of the transportation system. As was discussed
above, the demandand supply arecharacterized by
localization,volumesanddynamics,withmovement
answeringforonlyonerequirementsoflogistics:the
provisionofproductsindueplace[9].On the other
hand,demandand supply
could be spreadnotonly
inspace,butalsointime:forexample,thedemandfor
heatingcoalappearinwinter(peakdemand)whileby
technological reasons its extraction should be even
(stead supply). The harvest we take in in summer
time(peaksupply),whileweconsumecollectedgrain
all
the year (steady demand). Thought annual
volumes of demand and supply are equal, the
temporaldifferencescausetheneedtostoreproducts
(goods, cargos) in this or that location – at
manufacture’spremises,atconsumer’spremises,or–
as will be discussed further – in the transportation
systemitself.
These two
sample show that the presence of a
warehouseandtheexistenceoftheproductstockonit
are an inevitable pre‐condition for fulfillment of the
second requirement of logistics: the provision of
productsinduetime[9].Thisnecessityarisesinany
delivery of cargos (or goods, or even
better –
products)describedbydifferentdegreeofseasonality
ormarketdemands.
Thethirdrequirementoflogistics,i.e.provisionof
productsinduequantity,alsoneedsthewarehousing
to be satisfied. This is explained by the need to
accumulatethevolumesofcargofrommanufacturers
to form shipping consigment which sizes
meet the
economic demands of carriers. The cargos from
manufacturers arrive more orless evenly, and upon
reaching a certain amount moved at one time from
pointAtopointBasaunifiedshippingconsignment.
Thecollection(consolidation)ofthecargosinpointA
anddispatching (distribution) to consumers
inpoint
B form equally important parts of the total cargo
transportationsystem,asFig.5illustrates.
a1
1 b2
11
1 1b3
1 2
a2 111A 32
13 2
13B
13331
a3 b1
Figure5.Anexampleofsimplifiedtransportationsystem
This figure shows the products produced in
locations a1, a2, a3 and delivered to point A. The
collectedconsignmentismovedfrompointAtopoint
B, wherefrom is delivered toconsumers in locations
b1,b2,b3.
The representation of the transportation system
over the fragment of plane allows to build
a
perception of spatial aspects of its operation.
Simultaneously, the products in locations a1, a2, a3
could be produced in different time, which might
requiretostorethe productsarrivedearlier inorder
towaitfortheformationoftherequiredconsignment.
SamecouldhappenatpointB:somecargo
couldbe
delivered too early for consumers in different
locationsb1,b2,b3,whichwouldleadtonecessityto
store their products for the synchronization with
demandonthem.
614
Figure6.Theconsequentstagesofsimplifiedtransportationsystem’soperation
Moreover, there exists one important additional
aspect:thecargoleftaninitiallocationdoesnotarrive
attargetlocationinstantly,itremainssometimeinthe
process of moving. This amount of cargo (usually
referredtoas“stockonwheel”)couldbesignificantly
big:forexample,tencontainerships“Panamax”class
on
their stringtoaporteasilycouldcarryasmuchas
20000 boxes, while the port’s container yard keeps
onlyahalfofthisamount.
Fig. 6 arbitrary details not only movements of
cargobetweendifferentlocationsshownbyFig.5,but
alsothe“schedule”ofthesemovesin
discretetime.
Everyplaneonthisfigurereflectsthestateofthe
systemin anarbitraldiscretetimemoment.Inother
words, the transportation in this perception is the
movementofcargoin a three‐dimensional space {X,
Y,t},whereXandYarecommonspatialcoordinates,
andt
isthediscretetime.
Fig. 7 illustrated the operation of this simplified
transportation system in this arbitral space‐time
continuum.
Fifure7. Operationof thesimplified transportationsystem
in{X,Y,t}space
Sinceusuallyintransportationmanagementwedo
notregardthemovementoverthesurfaceoftheEarth
in separate special coordinates {X, Y} and more
interested in distance, as well as for the sake of
visibility,wecanexaminethetransportationsystem’s
operation in two‐dimensional arbitrary space {S, t},
whereSisthedistanceofthemovementS=S(X,Y).A
sampleofthisoperation,orthesystems’trajectoryfor
asingleordinarytransportationbetweentwopointsis
givenbyFig.8.
Figure8.Thetrajectoryofthetransportsystemoperationin
time‐spacecoordinates
Thisfigure displays the operation of a simplified
transportation system as the functional dependency
of the distance from transportation time, i.e. S=S(t).
Obviously, the ratio
(time derivative) is the
transportationspeedinthissystem.
On the other hand, the operation of this system
could be equally represented as dependency of
transportation time from covered distance, or t=t(S),
whichFig.9shows.
In this casethe ratio
(space derivative) is the
delay connected with the transportation over the
correspondent route, which is important separate
characteristic of the transportation system’s
performance.
615
Figure9.Thetrajectoryofthetransportsystemoperationin
space‐timecoordinates
For this delay two factors could be responsible
simultaneously: the storage (or “transportation with
zero velocity”, as some logisticians say) and the
transportation process between the initial point and
destinationitself,whenthecargoisonitsway.Inthe
spatial representation these two factors differ in the
waythatin
purestoragethecorrespondenttrajectory
isorthogonaltothespecialplane, orcollineartothe
timeaxle,asFig.10shows.
Figure10Movement and storage as components of the
transportation
This figure shows that the traditional problem
statement for the selection of the optimal
transportationrouteisonlyaprojectionofthewhole
transportation schema in the space‐time continuum
(Fig 10) on the plane of the physical (geographic)
plane(Fig11).
Figure11. Projection of the transportation schema on the
geographicplane
The accurate or approximate solutions of this
problem, traditionally offered by the classical
mathematics(inthesectionoftransportationtasks),in
this way is incorrect by its primary setting. In
addition, the available methods and algorithms in
practicalcasesarerestrictedtoasmallsetofheuristics
andcrudesimplifications.
Moreover,
up to this moment we have been
examined only on transport “transaction”:
consolidation of one cargo consignment for a single
vehicle to meet the economic requirements of the
transportmode,transportationofthisconsignmentto
an intermediate point, and distribution of the
shipmentsbyfinaldestinations.Evenfor onesuch
a
route, or string, there emerges a correspondent task
forthebackhaulroute.Thenextcycle,correspondent
toa newround trip, willinits turnrequireto solve
theproblemsofsimilarstructurebutwithindividual
datasets. Thecommoncollectionofdifferentstrings
by an average company forms the
problem space
manytimesmultiplyingthealgorithmiccomplexityof
thetask.Thevariety and greatnumbersofshipping
linesoperatingonthemarketofocean,sea,cabotage
andrivershipping,totallyandabsolutelydeprivethe
problem of their total or partial optimization of any
perspectives.
In the same time the
carriers, totally unaware of
this methodologic catastrophe, proceed with
successfulnavigation,thecargoownersstillbuytheir
services, the investors still put their money in the
businesswithintensiontogetprofits.
Obviously,thebusinesspracticemanagestosolve
thisproblemsomehow,sinceitseeksnotforthebest,
butfor
atolerablesolution.Thequestiononlyremains
whether this best (optimal) solution exists and how
far away from it are these tolerable solutions. The
answerforthisquestiondefinesalsowhetherweneed
to take efforts to develop more powerful
mathematical tools that will provide sufficient
competitive advantages to justify
the cost and labor
fortheirdevelopmentandintroduction.
3 DISCUSSION
We came to a conclusion that the transportation
process, implicitly or explicitly, consists of two
components: movement in space and movement in
time. The movement in space, due to the finite
transportation speed, inevitably generates the
movement in time (by
the stock on wheel). The
movement in time could not be connected with any
movementinspace, thus performing the function of
pure storage. This function is required both be
technological reasons (accumulation of the transport
consignment) and commercial ones (coordination of
the demand‐supply seasonality, fluctuation of the
market
conjuncture, billable warehousing services
etc.).
All these factors should be taken into account in
any optimization problem statements concerning
different aspects of design and management of
transportation systems. Really, even the classical
problems of linear programming should be re‐
formulatedfromtraditional“static”formattothenew
616
“dynamic”onewithconstantlychanginginput data.
With big share ofprobabilitythis excludes fromthe
listofpossiblecandidates for the new methodologic
toolkit nearly all traditional analytical calculation
techniquesasinefficientandinadequate.
Actually,inany of these dynamic variants of the
problemstatementforthe mathematicprogramming
problem,inanyindividualmomentwehavetosolve
anewtaskwithnewdataandevenanewstatement.
If recall that every separate task of the kind is NP‐
complete, then the computational complexity of the
problemsolutionbecomestoohigh.
A separate direction of studies could be
modification of the classical problem statement by
includingthetimeasequalva riabletospatialones.In
thesametime,thisapproachhardlyeverwouldavoid
the well‐known problem of “combinatorial
explosion”.
Consequently, all these circumstances leave us
with no methodological instrumentswe used touse
inordertosolve
anytransportoptimizationproblems
atpreviousstageofdevelopmentofsupplychains.In
the same time, new demands for operational
characteristicsoftheseglobalsupplychainsputmore
andmorehardrequirementsforthisoptimization.
Obviously, we should seek the solution of this
contradiction in new fundamental scientific
disciplines,like
cyberneticsanddiscretemathematics,
andintheimpressiveprogressofcomputerhard‐and
software.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1 The transportation logistics, regarded as an
instrument for design and management of the
global intermodal supply network, is an
autonomousdisciplinewhichshouldnotbemixed
with transportation functions of inbound and
outboundgeneral
logistics.
2 The principle of excluding warehouses from
supply chains refers to several important but
individualcasesofspecificobjectivesandsystemʹs
configurations.
3 Anycargotransportationincludestwocomponent:
movement in space (shipping) and movement in
time(storage).
4 Thestorage could takeshapeofinevitable”stock
on
wheels”orseparatestockinwarehouses.
5 Different configurations of supply chains could
altertherelativeimportanceofthesecomponents,
but in majority of cases do not permit to neglect
anyofthem.
6 The design of complex supply chains in general
case needs to take into account both spatial and
time parameters, which demands for a new
problem statement of the relevant mathematical
tasksanddeprivesthe traditionalmethodological
apparatusofitsadequacy.
7 Thedesignofmodernglobalsupplychainsneeds
the development of a new paradigmal approach,
with the simulation modelling seemed to be the
mostpromisingtool
ofit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1]Can‐Zhong Yao, Ji‐Nan Lin, Xiao‐Feng Liu, Xu‐Zhou
Zheng. Dynamic features analysis for the large‐scale
logistics system warehouse‐out operation. Physica A:
Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Volume 415, 1
December2014,Pages31–42.
[2]Shaoyun Ren. Assessment on Logistics Warehouse fire
Risk based on
Analytic Hierarchy Process. Procedia
Engineering,Volume45,2012,Pages59–63.
[3]Rajesh Kr Singh, Nikhil Chaudhary, Nikhil Saxena.
Selection of warehouse location for a global supply
chain:Acasestudy.IIMB ManagementReview,Inpress,
accepted manuscript, Available online 7 September
2018.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2018.08.009.
[4]Qiang Lin, Xuemei Su, Ying Peng.
Supply chain
coordination in Confirming Warehouse Financing.
Computers & Industrial Engineering, Volume 118, April
2018,Pages104–111.
[5]Bhanuteja Sainathuni, Pratik J. Parikh, Xinhui Zhang,
Nan Kong. The warehouse‐inventory‐transportation
problem for supply chains. European Journal of
Operational Research, Volume 237, Issue 2, 1 September
2014,Pages690–700.
[6]Vetrenko,L.D.Upravlenierabotojmorskogoporta[Tekst]:
uchebnik dlya vuzov / L. D. Vetrenko. – SPb.:
Istoricheskayaillyustraciya,1997.–165s.
[7]Morskaya kontejnernaya transportno‐texnologicheskaya
sistema [Tekst]: monografiya / A. V. Kirichenko, A. L.
Kuzneczov[idr.];red.A.V.Kirichenko.–SPb.:Izd‐vo
MANE`B,2017.
–320s.
[8]L.fonBertalanfi.Obshhayateoriyasistem:kriticheskijobzor.
V sbornike perevodov Issledovaniya po obshhej teorii
sistem.M.:Progress,1969.–520s.
[9]Donald J. Bowersox, Patricia J. Daugherty, Cornelia L.
Dröge, Richard N. Germain, Dale S. Rogers. Logistical
Excellence, 1992, Available online 17 November
2013.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978‐1‐55558‐087‐2.50008‐6.
