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Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures
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Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2019) | Viewed by 28090

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Violeta Roso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Interests: dry ports; intermodal transport; inland waterways; short sea shipping; slow steaming; qualitative studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. John Black

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: sustainable transport; port and dry port financing; policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During the last decade, the concept of dry ports has gained considerable attention from researchers and practitioners around the world. For instance, today there are more than 100 papers in various research databases compared to only two in 2007.

Increase in commodities by sea transport implies an almost proportional increase in the inland transport flow task. With the growing containerization of maritime products, an increased efficiency of rail and the flexibility offered by road haulage are both needed for the hinterland access to/from seaports. Thus, a functional seaport inland access system is essential for the efficiency of the whole logistical chain. Environmental problems related to the transport sector have received increasing attention by researchers and policy makers, which includes the role that the logistics system can play in reducing environmental impacts.

A dry port as an element in the transport chain that facilitates a shift of containers from road to rail could help tackle the problem of dysfunctional inland access, and thereby lower environmental effects in the region, and reduce road congestion from the seaport-generated traffic activities. Moreover, a dry port could contribute to regional development once implemented in an area through the attraction of new industries. Dry ports appear in variety of forms, arrangements and under different terms around the world and differ in location, maturity level, ownership and initiation processes. However, logistics concepts, especially dry ports, have not been extensively researched in the role of decreasing environmental impacts.

Therefore, it would be of interest to find out on how different elements of that diversity in dry ports across the world influence sustainability—in its economic, social and environmental dimensions. The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality papers addressing emerging sustainability issues related to dry ports. Original and high-quality research fitting the Special Issue’s theme that have neither been published nor are currently under review by other journals is welcome to be submitted. Papers selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a peer-review procedure and careful editorial scrutiny.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Violeta Roso
Prof. Dr. John Black
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Regulatory issues related to dry ports implementation, operations and ownership
  • Enviromental percepctives on dry ports
  • Social perspectives on dry ports
  • Economic sustainability, including financial sustainability of dry ports
  • Dry port network design
  • Transport system actors and their roles for dry ports/ports
  • Information technological solutions for the dry port transport system
  • Seaport expansions and infrastructure connections to dry ports
  • Seaport—dry port dyads

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 1373 KiB  
Article
The Introduction to System Dynamics Approach to Operational Efficiency and Sustainability of Dry Port’s Main Parameters
by Dmitri Muravev, Aleksandr Rakhmangulov, Hao Hu and Hengshuo Zhou
Sustainability 2019, 11(8), 2413; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11082413 - 23 Apr 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4121
Abstract
The continuous increase of trade between China and Europe brought congestion problems at major Chinese seaports. An effective way to solve this issue is to set up intermodal terminals often called dry ports. However, the dynamics of various influenced factors on dry port’s [...] Read more.
The continuous increase of trade between China and Europe brought congestion problems at major Chinese seaports. An effective way to solve this issue is to set up intermodal terminals often called dry ports. However, the dynamics of various influenced factors on dry port’s implementation calls for the adaptive and flexible planning of the terminal. This paper analyzes the shortcomings of previous research related to the dry port’s implementation from the perspective of the applied numerous parameters concerning evaluating its operational efficiency and sustainability. The operational efficiency and sustainability of a dry port are evaluated by the developed system of the main parameters. This system gives the understanding of how these parameters are interrelated between each other and fills the gap in studies of inverse interrelations between main parameters of a dry port. To fully understand the sustainability of the main parameters of a dry port, this paper puts forward the simulation models description of the developed system. The developed model is a practical tool to evaluate the reliability of hypotheses about the functional interrelations between the main parameters of the dry port, as well as to evaluate the sustainability of the system. Finally, in order to develop functional interrelations between main parameters, the data from several Chinese dry ports has been collected. Finally, the developed multi-agent system dynamics model has been validated in the case study of Yiwu dry port located in Zhejiang, China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures)
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23 pages, 1117 KiB  
Article
Improving the Performance of Dry and Maritime Ports by Increasing Knowledge about the Most Relevant Functionalities of the Terminal Operating System (TOS)
by Miguel Hervás-Peralta, Sara Poveda-Reyes, Gemma Dolores Molero, Francisco Enrique Santarremigia and Juan-Pascual Pastor-Ferrando
Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1648; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11061648 - 19 Mar 2019
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 9107
Abstract
Maritime transport in the European Union has increased in the last years, triggering congestion in many of the most important sea and river ports. A lot of works have highlighted how the connection between these ports and dry ports can contribute to reducing [...] Read more.
Maritime transport in the European Union has increased in the last years, triggering congestion in many of the most important sea and river ports. A lot of works have highlighted how the connection between these ports and dry ports can contribute to reducing port congestion and emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This work aims to improve the knowledge about the functionalities of Terminal Operating Systems (TOSs) managing container terminals of sea, river, and dry ports, with the aim of improving their performance and contributing to reducing congestion and GHG emissions to achieve a higher sustainability. The contribution and novelty of this paper in the field of container-terminals logistics research is the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify and hierarchize TOS functionalities. The robustness of the model was checked by applying a sensitivity analysis. One hundred and seven functionalities were grouped into six main clusters: Warehouse, Maritime Operations, Gate, Master Data, Communications, and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Dashboard. The results show that time tracking of vessels, space optimization, development of loading and unloading lists, and optimization of container locations are the most important functionalities of a TOS. This work is addressed to developers, sellers, managers, and users of TOSs and researchers working on container-terminal performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures)
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21 pages, 1741 KiB  
Article
Container Sea Ports and Dry Ports: Future CO2 Emission Reduction Potential in China
by Weidong Li, Olli-Pekka Hilmola and Yulia Panova
Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1515; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11061515 - 13 Mar 2019
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4388
Abstract
Nowadays, China dominates logistics volumes, and its container logistics is associated with the largest sea ports, such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Ningbo. However, China’s coastal line is long and contains numerous million-container-handling sea ports. Current leading sea ports are located mostly in the [...] Read more.
Nowadays, China dominates logistics volumes, and its container logistics is associated with the largest sea ports, such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Ningbo. However, China’s coastal line is long and contains numerous million-container-handling sea ports. Current leading sea ports are located mostly in the south or at the middle point of the coastal line. Volumes are rather concentrated in these few areas. Despite the fact that China’s vast population is well-spread throughout the coastal line, major cities are also located in the hinterlands. Apart from some regions (e.g., the Pearl and the Yangtze River Delta) where there are many cities that are very close to each other, distances between cities are rather long in general. Therefore, this research examines the CO2 emission reduction potential of using a larger number of sea ports (such as distribution hubs), as well as the interaction of these with analytically chosen dry ports. Results of the hypothetical country level container transportation model, using linear integer programming concerning 51 cities (largest hinterland and container sea port cities), showed that better and more equal use of sea ports serving the major cities will result in considerable emission reductions. This is the case, even if hinterland transport is completely based on road transports. However, in a situation where the dry port structure with railways is further applied, the results showed that it should be concentrated on a few hinterland points first, but also assure that most remote, million-people city locations get priority for the railway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures)
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14 pages, 237 KiB  
Article
Outcome-Driven Supply Chain Perspective on Dry Ports
by Alena Khaslavskaya and Violeta Roso
Sustainability 2019, 11(5), 1492; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11051492 - 12 Mar 2019
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 4445
Abstract
The hinterland leg of maritime containerized transport as a part of supply chain has been increasingly pressured by larger volumes, as well as by a need to fulfill sustainability requirements that are expressed by social opinion and formal regulations. There is a potential [...] Read more.
The hinterland leg of maritime containerized transport as a part of supply chain has been increasingly pressured by larger volumes, as well as by a need to fulfill sustainability requirements that are expressed by social opinion and formal regulations. There is a potential to relieve this pressure through integration of a dry port, as a seaport’s inland interface, in the supply chain. Therefore, this paper aims to explain how a supply chain can benefit or enhance its outcomes of cost, responsiveness, security, environmental performance, resilience, and innovation, by the integration of a dry port. The data for this case study is collected through interviews and site visits from the privately owned Skaraborg dry port, Sweden; and the study is limited to the actors of the transport system involved in the development and operations of the dry port integrated setup. The results show that the six supply chain outcomes (cost, responsiveness, security, environmental performance, resilience, and innovation) are perceived by the actors as being desirable, and can be enhanced by the integration of a dry port in the supply chains. In particular, the enhancement of the supply chain outcomes can be achieved due to intermodality and reliability of rail transportation and customization of services associated with the dry port integrated setup, and by increasing the capacity of transportation system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures)

Review

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11 pages, 229 KiB  
Review
Engaging Employees with Good Sustainability: Key Performance Indicators for Dry Ports
by Felix Kin Peng Hui, Lu Aye and Colin F. Duffield
Sustainability 2019, 11(10), 2967; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11102967 - 24 May 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4924
Abstract
Dry ports have the potential to enhance the sustainability of transport systems, yet their introduction requires major changes to the current logistics chain. Further, emphasising sustainability goals and continued employee engagement can be a challenge when developing or implementing organisational change management programs [...] Read more.
Dry ports have the potential to enhance the sustainability of transport systems, yet their introduction requires major changes to the current logistics chain. Further, emphasising sustainability goals and continued employee engagement can be a challenge when developing or implementing organisational change management programs in dry ports. Key considerations include governmental requirements and compliance, investor expectations, as well as employee engagement; these factors may be conflicting. The top-down management approach supported by strong leadership, participative approaches and constant communication assists in achieving successful change management. Sound selection of key performance indicators (KPIs) provides a set of metrics to track and aid the change process. They serve as a unifying link between top managements’ sustainability goals and employees’ engagement. The initial findings of our research confirm that both port and terminal operators have a gap in their understanding of the importance of sustainability goals and environmental goals. This will have a flow-on effect of port and terminal operators not driving the right messages to their staff in their organisational change management programs. Based on a critical literature review, it has been established what might qualify as good sustainability KPIs for dry ports. An example of a dry port at the Port of Somerton has been included. As every dry port has different requirements and constraints, it is important to develop KPIs together with stakeholders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dry Ports and Sustainable Futures)
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