Achieving emissions reductions in the freight sector: Understanding freight flows and exploring reduction options

Georgetown Climate Center
James J. Winebrake, PhD.
Rochester Institute of Technology
Presented via Webinar for the Talking Freight Seminar: Freight and the Environment Part I
21 March 2012

Freight is closely tied to economic growth and is growing; unfortunately, the bulk of freight is moved by high energy-intensive and GHG-intensive modes (truck).

On behalf of the Transportation and Climate Initiative, Dr. James Winebrake recently conducted an analysis of all freight moving through the northeastern United States.

The presentation shows some examples of emissions, costs and time for freight routes, and potentially sets the stage for additional work in this area.

The IF-TOLD Mitigation Framework

• Intermodalism/Infrastructure– use of efficient modes and infrastructure
• Fuels – use of low carbon fuels
• Technology – application of efficient technologies
• Operations – best practices in operator behavior
• Logistics – improve supply chain management
• Demand – reduce how much STUFF we consume

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Benchmarking de las cadenas logísticas del comercio exterior chileno

CEPAL
Julio 2008

En el marco del proyecto de la Universidad Católica de Valparaíso: "La Ciencia, La tecnología y las TIC's: fortalecen el sector logístico de Chile" que tiene como objetivo generar elaborar una estrategia de mejoramiento e implementando acciones que permitan activar la generación de negocios tecnológicos de clase mundial y elevar la capacidad competitiva de estos sectores económicos chilenos, mediante la integración y vinculación entre las empresas TICs, el sector público, universidades y el sector asociado a la Logística de Comercio Exterior chileno. Se organizó un Seminario y un taller de trabajo tendiendes a elaborar un diagnóstico mediante la discusión entre los distintos actores del sector público y privado, tendiente a generar una Agenda Estratégica para el sector logístico chileno.

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Logistics in lagging regions

Charles Kunaka
World Bank
December 2010

Small scale producers in developing countries lack easy access to efficient logistics services. They are faced with long distances from both domestic and international markets. Unless they consolidate their trade volumes they face high costs which diminish their ability to trade. However, the process of consolidation is not without cost nor does it occur on its own accord. As a result, the consolidation is typically handled by intermediaries.

Using case studies of sisal and soybean supply chains in Brazil and India respectively, this study explores the role and impact of intermediaries in facilitating trade in lagging regions. The study assesses the horizontal relationships between the small scale producers in thin markets and the vertical connections between different tiers of the same supply chain. The study analyzes the traditional approach to linking producers namely through cooperatives and itinerant traders and the relatively newer innovations using ICT.

The study finds that farmers linked through the different mechanisms are more integrated to international supply chains or are able to better manage supply chains longer than would otherwise be the case. Intermediaries play several roles including providing transport services and facilitating market exchanges, payments, risk sharing and quality improvements. Generally, information technology driven innovations make it easier to integrate adjacent steps in the value chain.

This report on logistics performance at the sub-national level is an on-going endeavour. Similar analysis is being carried out in some countries in Africa to identify the evolving role of intermediaries in low income regions. The results will be developed into a major publication on this topic, with recommendations on how development agencies, civil society and the private sector can improve the design of strategies to reduce logistics costs in low income areas.

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Border management modernization

Editors: Gerard McLinden, Enrique Fanta, David Widdowson and Tom Doyle
World Bank
2011

This book provides border management policymakers and reformers with a broad survey of key developments in and principles for improving trade facilitation through better border management, including practical advice on particular issues. In contrast to the traditional border management reform agenda, with its focus on improving customs operations, this book addresses both customs reform and areas well beyond customs-a significant broadening of scope. The book thus presents a new, more comprehensive approach to trade facilitation through border management reform: an approach that embraces a much wider, 'whole of government' perspective.

The objective of this book is to summarize and provide guidance on what constitutes good practices in border management looking beyond customs clearance. The contributions to the volume make clear that there are no simple or universally applicable solutions. Instead, the aim is to provide a range of general guidelines that can be used to better understand the complex border management environment and the interdependencies and interrelationships that collectively need to be addressed to secure meaningful change and improvement.

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Análisis de regulaciones sobre el transporte de carga urbano y su impacto en la cadena logística

Grupo de Logística - División de Ingeniería de Transporte y Logística - DICTUC S. A.
Ministerio de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones - Subsecretaría de Transportes
Octubre 2009

El Ministerio de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones (MTT), a través de la Subsecretaría de Transportes ha encargado a la Dirección de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (DICTUC), la realización del estudio denominado “Análisis de Regulaciones sobre el Transporte de Carga Urbano y su impacto en la Cadena Logística”.

El propósito principal del estudio es proponer y analizar distintos tipos de regulaciones sobre el transporte de carga, que permitan disminuir las externalidades provocadas por la circulación de este tipo de vehículos a nivel urbano y analizar su impacto en la cadena logística de las principales actividades económicas que se realizan en Santiago.

Para esto se definieron los siguientes objetivos específicos:
Proponer diversos tipos de regulaciones sobre el transporte de carga urbano que permitan reducir las externalidades generadas por este modo de transporte.

Evaluar económicamente las regulaciones propuestas, desde el punto de vista social y privado. En este último caso, determinando el impacto de cada una de ellas sobre las principales cadenas logísticas que operan en la capital.

Realizar un análisis de la operación de las principales cadenas logísticas que operan en la capital, de tal forma que este análisis permita cuantificar los impactos solicitados en el punto anterior.

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Environmental assessment of passenger transportation should include infrastructure and supply chains

Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009)

IOP Publishing
June 2009

To appropriately mitigate environmental impacts from transportation, it is necessary for decision makers to consider the life-cycle energy use and emissions. Most current decision-making relies on analysis at the tailpipe, ignoring vehicle production, infrastructure provision, and fuel production required for support. We present results of a comprehensive life-cycle energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and selected criteria air pollutant emissions inventory for automobiles, buses, trains, and airplanes in the US, including vehicles, infrastructure, fuel production, and supply chains. We find that total life-cycle energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions contribute an additional 63% for onroad, 155% for rail, and 31% for air systems over vehicle tailpipe operation. Inventorying criteria air pollutants shows that vehicle non-operational components often dominate total emissions. Life-cycle criteria air pollutant emissions are between 1.1 and 800 times larger than vehicle operation. Ranges in passenger occupancy can easily change the relative performance of modes.

Keywords: passenger transportation, life-cycle assessment, cars, autos, buses, trains, rail, aircraft, planes, energy, fuel, emissions, greenhouse gas, criteria air pollutants.

Supplementary data are available from http://stacks.iop.org/ERL/4/024008

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UNCTAD Transport Newsletter

No. 43
Second and Third Quarters 2009
UNCTAD

Content:

• Repository of trade facilitation working groups
• Liner shipping connectivity in 2009
• Dry ports
• Computerization of the TIR procedure
• ASYCUDA updates
• Trilingual Vocabulary of Intelligent Transportation Systems
• Structural factors underlying mergers and acquisitions in liner shipping
• West Africa road transport corruption reports
• Datamar
• UNCTAD’s Port Training Programme initiates classes in Latin American countries
• Future Challenges for the Port and Shipping Sector
• Port Economics
• Port Competition
• Trends in the Transport Sector
• International Transport Forum
• Workshop on Euro-Asian Transport Links
• The Global Institute of Logistics
• Asia–Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum 2009
• Supply Chain Security
• International Association of Maritime Economists
• Overcoming Border Bottlenecks: The Costs and Benefits of Trade Facilitation
• United Nations Layout Key for trade documents
• Global Transport Knowledge Partnership
• What constraints Africa’s exports?
• Workshop on Harmonization Convention
• Integrated scenario on transport
• Online Harmonized Commodities Code database
• UNECE Transport Review
• Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on Transit Ports Servicing Landlocked Developing
• Countries
• Public and private partnerships for the development of infrastructure to facilitate
• Trade and transport

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El potencial de servicios multimodales en el corredor de transporte Asunción - Montevideo

CEPAL
Junio 2009



El presente estudio analiza el potencial de desarrollo del transporte multimodal RoRo, entre Asunción del Paraguay y Montevideo, República Oriental del Uruguay. La implementación de tal sistema es considerada una combinación exitosa entre los sistemas de transporte terrestre y acuático. En este caso se relaciona con el uso de las vías de navegación interior, la infraestructura, las embarcaciones en el transporte fluvial y su capacidad para el transporte en grandes escalas y de vehículos de transporte terrestre, dentro de las cadenas logísticas.

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Increasing the energy efficiency of supply chains

McKinsey Quarterly
August 2009



The supply chains of many manufacturing sectors went global when oil was cheap; today, improving energy efficiency is a top concern for executives. This interactive shows numerous opportunities to dramatically reduce energy costs in supply chains.

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Especial interactivo

Determinants of the adoption of technological innovations by logistics service providers in China

Lin, Chieh-Yu
International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development
2008, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p19-38, 20p

The growth of China's economy hinges to a large extent on the ability of the logistics industry to operate more efficiently and effectively in the global supply chain system. China's logistics service providers should pay attention to adopt more efficient logistics technologies to provide better services for their customers. This article studies the factors influencing the adoption of technological innovations by logistics service providers in China and investigates the influences of adopting new technologies on supply chain performance. A questionnaire survey is conducted to study the adoption of technological innovations by China's logistics industry. Technological innovations are classified into data acquisition technologies, information technologies, warehousing technologies, and transportation technologies. The influencing factors include technological, organizational, and environmental characteristics. We find that the adoption of technological innovations is significantly influenced by technological, organizational and environmental characteristics and that adopting new technologies will increase supply chain performance for the logistics industry in China.

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Fast-Forward: Key Issues in Modernizing the U.S. Freight-Transportation System for Future Economic Growth

RAND
June 2009

Efficient movement of freight within the United States and across its borders is a critical enabler of future U.S. economic growth and competitiveness. Such efficiency is now threatened by capacity bottlenecks, inefficient use of some components of the freight infrastructure, interference with passenger transport, the system's vulnerability to disruption, and the need to address important emission and energy constraints. In this volume, the authors provide a broad overview of U.S. freight transportation, discuss its role in the supply chains of various types of businesses, and provide data about its capacity in relation to demand for goods movement. They conclude with a discussion of the need to modernize the freight-transportation system and the overarching issues this involves: increasing capacity through operational improvements and infrastructure enhancement, making the system more adaptable and less vulnerable to disruption, addressing the energy and environmental concerns associated with freight transportation, and building support for public and private investment in the system.

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Supply chain collaboration in brazilian distribution channels

Paulo Tarso Vilela Resende
Guilherme Dayrell Mendonça
Fundação Dom Cabral
Caderno de Idéias CI0802
2008

Interfirm collaborative arrangements seem to have great potential, but further investigation is needed to identify their latest developments in emerging countries like Brazil. The main objective of this research aims to identify and evaluate the role of the collaborative supply chain framework (CSCF) proposed by Simatupang and Sridharan (2005) in structuring relationships between producers, wholesalers and retailers in Brazil. The research found undeniable evidence that the CSCF model well represents the
structure of a collaborative relationship and that its implementation improves the capacity of the distribution channel to handle better market changes.

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