Lecture 3. Process of Cargo Transportation

Lecture Outline

3.1. Overview of cargo transportation processes.

3.2. Technological schemes of cargo transportation processes.

3.3. General rules of transportation process technology.

3.4. Basic concepts of cargo transportation process.

3.5. Indicators of transportation process (will be provided during the next lecture)

3.1. Overview of cargo transportation processes

As it was stated earlier, cargo transportation starts at the place of goods production and finishes at the place of their consuming. Process of transportation begins with making up of cargo for transportation (packing, marking, etc.). Process of storing (e.g. at the factory or a plant) is required for getting the necessary amount of goods intended for one consumer. Then the process of loading and transportation by truck transport from the factory to the railway follows.

On railway warehouse, they proceed with the process of documentary processing. Later, the process of storing reoccurs until the goods enough for one railway wagon is stored. That cargo is loaded into the wagon; the wagon is included into a train and dispatched. During transportation from origin point to point of destination, the wagon may again be subject to the process of train collection while the wagon can be transferred from one train into another at the sorting station. Processes of cargo unloading and transfer to road transport are the next in the cargo transportation process follow-up. This way the goods are delivered to the consumer. The consignee unloads the packages or containers.

Thus, cargo transportation process contains a chain of individual processes and operations.

Technological operations which are included into the transportation process differ greatly concerning their duration. Some operations, when united, form certain stages of transportation process. Every stage is intended for reaching an exact objective. For instance, the stage of transshipment cargo from one transport mode to the other in road-railway (waterway) transportation comprises the following operations:

1) unloading of the movable fleet of road transport;

2) moving cargo to the warehouse;

3) warehouse operations (horizontal and vertical stowing of cargo);

4) providing cargo storage / warehousing;

5) execution of documentation at warehouse;

6) saving of goods at the warehouse;

7) operations required for the period of storage (cooling, venting, etc.);

8) preparation of cargo for release from the warehouse;

9) moving of goods to the wagon;

10) cargo loading into the wagon;

11) laying cargo in the wagon and securing / fastening the cargo or closing the wagon doors;

12) processing of required documentation (packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin, etc.).

If the goods are transferred directly from the truck to the railway wagon, some of the above-enlisted operations fall out. A figure illustrating the simplest cargo transportation process is suggested below.

During the stage of making up of cargo for transportation at the enterprises of dairy and meet industry, for example, the following operations take place: moving load, unloading, storing and tare decontamination, repair of tare (if necessary), packing of the ready product into tare, storing of packed goods, etc.

Individual operations and stages of transportation process are interdependent (i.e. before moving load it has to be loaded onto transport mode). Therefore, cargo transportation process is a multistage and multioperation process with a large technological, operational and economic variety of operations. Individual stages of cargo transportation process are very often regarded as individual processes.

3.2. Technological schemes of cargo transportation processes

Cargo transportation process is of cyclic nature. This means that, with the exception of pipeline transport which presupposes unbreakable operation, cargo transportation is carried out in repeated productive cycles which follow one another. The rhythm of cycles is identified by their frequency. The frequency depends on average duration of an individual cycle.

A cycle of transportation process is characterized by high dynamics, unbreakable change of the state of process and change of the content of its elements. Cycles of individual processes of load transportation vary according to the time criterion. However, they all have a beginning and an end. Every repeated cycle of transportation is composed of many individual stages which are closely interconnected and share the same objectives. The final objective of these stages is achieving spatial dislocation of cargos. A complex of such cycles forms cargo transportation process.

Schemes of cargo transportation process show that every transportation process includes the stages concerning only cargo, stages referring to movable fleet and joint stages.

Joint stage is defined as the stage of loading, moving and unloading cargo. That is why various stages can be considered as joint, e.g. driving up of vehicles for loading, making up of cargo for transportation, storing of load as the point of production and in points of transshipment, etc. Such reality definitely complicates comprehension of the essence of cargo transportation process.

Correct organization of transportation process presumes:

1. Contraction of surplus time expenses for vehicle downtime during loading and unloading by way of: widening the range of loading-unloading operations and implementation of integrated mechanization; devise and strict follow of the driving up and operation schedules for trucks; construction of approach roads and sites for maneuvering of trucks, especially for trailer trucks and haulers with many trailers or semi-trailers; primary making up of cargo, etc.

2. Rational packing of cargo. Use of removable shields which enables to maximize capacity and occupancy utilization for movable fleet.

3. Correct laying of cargo in truck body which allows even distribution of load factor for vehicle chassis and optimizes operation for the driver.

4. Optimal modes of truck operation (road trains) at some sections en-route regarding the state of road pavement, traffic congestion and other operational factors. Drivers should be aware of the specifications and operational performance rules for vehicle brands during transportation of a specified type of load.

Cargo transportation should be carried out according to rationally devised routes focusing on shortest distances between origin/destination points, modes of movement at a given section of a route, maximum loading of the vehicles away and back.

5. Maximum utilization of working time based on acting legislation by way of condensation of working hours in team method of operation.

3.3. General rules of transportation process technology

Technology of cargo transportation process is a way of carrying out a specified transportation process by given personnel through dividing the process into a system of follow up stages and operations performed for the purpose of achieving high efficiency of transportation.

Objectives of technology are intended for reduction or deletion of all cargo-irrelevant operations, and transforming the cargo transportation process into a more target-oriented process.

The essence of cargo transportation technology is defined by means of two main concepts: stage and operation. A stage is a set of operations which enable performance of a given process. An operation is an even, logically indivisible part of transportation process aimed at achieving particular goal and is performed by one or many executors.

Three properties characterize any technology of cargo transportation process, such as division of transportation process, coordination and succession, definiteness of actions.

Division of cargo transportation process into stages is delimitation of liabilities for executor of a given technology. Any operation should provide approach of the object under management to the identified objective and transition from one operation to another. The last operation of a given stage should be an introduction to the following stage.

Coordination and succession of actions intended for achieving exact goals should be based on internal logics of cargo transportation process functioning and development.

A technology is no ‘tabula rasa’ as it maintains connections with technology of the past and future. Technology of today is founded on principles allowing its transformation into the technology of the future.

Any technology presumes definiteness of the stages and operations included into it. Deviation from one operation influences the entire technological chain.

For a start, the technology of the entire cargo transportation process is developed. Then the technology of every stage in the technology is devised. When the technology for all stages has been developed, they should be revised from the point of view their technological unity.

3.4. Basic concepts of cargo transportation process

To avoid semantic problems, we shall define here some basic concepts of cargo transportation process.

1. Transportation process is a total of operations from the moment of making up of cargo to the moment of delivery of cargo to the consignee linked with moving of goods in space without changes of geometrical form, size and physical and chemical properties of the cargo.

2. Process of shipment refers to a total of loading operations in the point of loading, transshipment operations in the points of cargo transfer from one transport mode to the other, temporary storage of cargo, transportation proper, and of unloading operations in the point of unloading.

3. Cycle of transportation process defines a production process referring to cargo transportation when the stage of driving up of the transport vehicle for loading, stage of loading, transportation and unloading are performed. The finite cycle of transportation process is sometimes called a trip.

4. Operation of translocation refers to that part of shipment process which is carried out by one mechanism, a system of mechanisms, or manually.

5. Transportation is an operation of cargo translocation along a specified route from the point of loading to the point of unloading or transshipment.

6. Complement of cargo presumes one or many operations of cargo translocation with intent of selecting the goods from various points of storing, delivery and uniting to create a complex required for production or other purpose, such as dispatching to the consignee, consumer, etc.

7. Storing is an operation concerning cargo translocation focused on keeping the required amount of translocated cargo of the same type. The given operation is caused by specificity of production or other reasons.

8. Packing refers to the operation of enlargement of the cargo unit by laying smaller cargo units onto a palette or into a tare of large size in a strictly defined order with a specified spatial orientation, and if needed, with following fastening of the packet.

9. Warehousing is an operation of locating cargo in a specified order for the purpose of temporary storing of cargo.

10. Loading defines an operation of cargo translocation from the place of its permanent warehousing or temporary storing to the transport vehicle.

11. Unloading stands for an operation of cargo translocation from the transport vehicle to the place of its permanent warehousing or temporary storing.

12. Transshipment is an operation of cargo translocation from one transport vehicle to another or from one place of warehousing to another.

13. Shipment refers to a total of similar cargo units being translocated simultaneously along a common route (according to a single transportation document).

14. Transport product is a mass of cargo in natural expression delivered from the place of production to the place of consumption.

The experience of transportation management shows that not all the cargo loaded in the point of production in transport vehicles is delivered to the place of consumption. The reason for that is loss of cargo, damage to cargo, cargo decrement, etc.