Trade imbalances and global disturbances generate mismatches in the supply and demand of empty containers (ECs) that elevate the need for empty container repositioning (ECR). This research investigated dry ports as a potential means to minimize EC movements, and thus reduce costs and emissions. We assessed the environmental and economic effects of two ECR strategies via dry ports—street turns and extended free temporary storage—considering different scenarios of collaboration between shipping lines with different levels of container substitution. A multi-paradigm simulation combined agent-based and discrete-event modelling to represent flows and estimate kilometers travelled, CO2 emissions, and costs resulting from combinations of ECR strategies and scenarios. Full ownership container substitution combined with extended free temporary storage at the dry port (FTDP) most improved ECR metrics, despite implementation challenges. Our results may be instrumental in increasing shipping lines’ collaboration while reducing environmental impacts in up to 32 % of the inland ECR emissions. © 2023 The Author(s)

Trans-ocean liner shipping companies adopt slow steaming during periods when the market is characterised by low demand, high fuel prices, low freight rates and overcapacity. The most recent instance in which this occurred was the period following the 2008/2009 global financial crises, and the speeds have not yet rebounded to the pre-crisis levels. Most of the existing research regarding slow steaming takes environmental, economic and maritime engineering perspectives, meaning that the phenomenon is studied from the viewpoint of ship owners. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of slow steaming from the shipper’s perspective. 

When container shipping lines experience over-capacity and high fuel costs, they typically respond by decreasing sailing speeds and, consequently, increasing transport time. Most of the literature on this phenomenon, often referred to as slowsteaming, takes the perspective of the shipping lines addressing technical, operational and financial effects, or a society perspective focusing on lower emissions and energy use. Few studies investigate the effects on the demand side of the market for container liner shipping. Hence, the aim of this study is to elaborate on the logistics consequences of slow-steaming, particularly the strategies that Swedish shippers purchasing deep sea container transport services employ to mitigate the effects of slow-steaming. Workshops and semi-structured interviews revealed that shippers felt they had little or no impact on sailing schedules and were more or less subject to container shipping lines’ decisions. The effects of slowsteaming were obviously most severe for firms with complex supply chains, where intermediate products are sent back and forth between production stages on different continents. The shippers developed a set of strategies to cope with the low punctuality of containerised shipping, and these were categorised in the domains of transfer-the-problem, transport, sourcing and distribution, logistics and manufacturing, and product design. All firms applied changes in the transport domain, although the lack of service segmentation limited the effects of the strategy. Most measures were applied by two firms, whereas only one firm changed the product design.

Trans-ocean liner shipping companies adopt slow steaming during periods when the market is characterized by low demand, high fuel prices, low freight rates and over capacity. The latest instance this has occurred is in the period following the 2008/2009 global financial crises and the speeds have not yet rebound to the pre-crisis levels. Most of the existing research regarding slow steaming is from environmental, economical and maritime engineering perspective, meaning that the phenomenon is studied from the ship owners’ perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of slow steaming from the shippers’ perspective. A structural literature review on the main subject has been performed and the same resulted in a matrix of different effects of slow steaming on the shippers already identified and studied in the existing literature. Furthermore, six global companies positioned in Sweden have been studied and the data from the case companies has been collected through face-to-face interviews. The findings of the interviews have been summarized, presented and discussed at a workshop with all case companies’ representatives. The results of the study show that the shippers were firstly affected by slow steaming in 2008 and 2009 simply through increased sailing times that affected their supply chains. Reliability has been regarded as more important than the sailing time itself but the improvement on the same has not been observed so far. Furthermore, the interviewees believe that if the sea transport option is unreliable, air and rail are considered as substitute supply chains and the same also affects the last mile mode choice. Remarkably only one shipper acknowledged the importance and existence of environmental benefits; however increased reliability or cost reduction, as the benefits, have not been recognized by the interviewees.

About 90 per cent of the total volumes of goods that are imported to, or exported from, Sweden have been carried using maritime transport at some part of the transport chain. Swedish industry and commerce are hence heavily dependent on access to effective and efficient maritime transport services. At the same time the IMO estimates that roughly 3 per cent of the global CO2 emissions stem from maritime transport. In addition, the shipping industry is the source of about 15% of the global SOX and NOX emissions. The challenge at hand is hence, to reduce the negative external effects of shipping while at the same time accommodating an increasing demand, without adversely affecting the shippers’ ability to fulfill their needs for maritime transport. One of the most potent measures for reducing fuel consumption and consequently, emission, is reduction of sailing speed; so called slow steaming. Due to the non-linear correlation between speed and fuel consumption (e.g. the admiralty formula which estimates a cube function; meaning a 10% speed reduction yields 27% fuel consumption reduction), even marginal speed reduction will result in substantial reduction in fuel consumption. Historically, any time slow steaming has been broadly employed in the shipping industry; it has been so unilaterally by the ship owners. The rise in the application of slow steaming by linear shipping companies, is attributed to the flaccid demand, abundance of capacity, high fuel prices and low freight rates. Based on the existing knowledge, it is reasonable to anticipate that, despite the negative abatement costs and potency of slow steaming as a measure for reduction of emissions, its use will likely decline as soon as the market conditions rebound. The purpose of this study is to explore and explain the shippers’ ability to demand, and manage the consequences of, slow steaming maritime transport services in their supply chains. The Slow Steaming Logistics study has explored how the shippers are effected by interviewing six global companies originating in Sweden. The represent both import and export, the manufacturing industry as well as consumer goods and fashion – a wide selection of case companies. The case companies have been interviewed, and gathered for a workshop on the topic. The results from the study indicated that the shippers were firstly affected by slow steaming in 2008 or 2009, and the main indicator has been increased sailing times, that in turn affect their supply chains. The interviews also indicate that reliability can is regarded as more important than the sailing time itself. However, the shippers would like a diversity in the offering in the market for trans-ocean container freight, else other options as airfreight and railroad is considered for supply chains that today utilize trans-ocean containers shipping lines.

Inland waterway transportation (IWT) in Sweden could be a substitute for road transports with the prospects of improving the environmental performance. Sweden currently has no systematic strategies or policies for transports on inland waterways (IWW), and despite available capacity the waterways are barely utilized. In the Netherlands, for example, the IWW capacity is embedded in the transport system and utilized to a large extent. For a successful modal shift it is important to understand the drivers and barriers for the shift and develop strategies to leverage the drivers and mitigate the barriers. This study aims to identify drivers and barriers for IWT based on successful benchmark cases in the Netherlands. Furthermore, based on the learning from these benchmarks the study aims to point out strategic actions for Sweden regarding IWT. The data for this study was collected from IWT organizations, shippers and local administrations in the Netherlands. The results showed that main drivers for IWT are congestion relief, cost reduction and lower environmental impact. On the other hand, main barriers are slow pace of development, high investment costs and poor hinterland connectivity. For a successful modal shift in Sweden, it is crucial to prepare governmental support, a change in stakeholders' mindset, decisive attitude to modal shift process and a strong long-term perspective.

Although some movements of empty containers are needed due to imbalances between inbound and outbound goods flows in specific geographical areas, the transport of empty containers could be performed more efficiently. This report outlines results from the project “Increasing transport efficiency through reducing positioning of empty containers” performed during 2020-2023 by RISE and Chalmers, and financed by the Swedish Energy Agency. The purpose of the project was to contribute to increasing transport efficiency by understanding how empty container repositioning can be reduced and made more efficient in the Swedish transport system. To provide increased understanding regarding current practices and possible improvement areas, the report describes empty repositioning of containers in the inland container transport, and highlights drivers and barriers to minimize and make empty repositioning more efficient. Data on empty container movements in ports and by truck provide increased understanding of the current state. However, available data only offer partial views of empty container movements. Therefore, an empty trip model was constructed to help understand the proportion of containers that are transported empty between various origin-destination pairs, drawing on the Swedish road goods transport data from Trafikanalys. Several recommendations are made for how to improve data on empty container movements, for example differentiating between 20 and 40 feet containers. Also, this report details strategies for either reducing the empty container repositioning or making it more efficient within the national transport system, with a focus on: a) increased reutilization of containers and b) an increased share of rail compared to truck transport. Reutilization involves matching import and export containers to a larger degree, for example facilitated by extended storage of containers, and also how demands in various regions can be matched more efficiently, where some geographical areas are import dominated and others export dominated. The improvement potential in terms of cost and emissions have been calculated, simulating transport data in specific case studies. One simulation concerned reducing empty container repositioning locally, comparing the current situation with improvements in terms of street turns and extended storage given different collaboration levels. The extended storage scenario delivered the best results, as it significantly increased the likelihood of finding export cargo for an emptied import container. Another simulation considered empty container movements between Swedish inland terminals, identifying a large potential for both reutilization locally and triangulation between terminals compared to the current situation. The report further outlines the outcome of a Multi-Actor-Multi-Criteria-Analysis, where opportunities to reduce empty container repositioning in the hinterland of a port were considered from several stakeholders’ perspectives: shipping lines, transport operators, inland terminals, forwarders, ports and cargo owners. The scenarios evaluated were a) Time Flexibility, where additional days were allowed to find matching export cargo for an emptied import container, b) Container Sharing, where implications of allowing matching of containers of shipping lines in the same alliance were explored, and c) Data Sharing, where increased transparency regarding containers available for export in the inland was explored. The stakeholders preferred different scenarios, and details explaining their reasoning is provided. Drawing on the insights regarding current practices and possible improvement areas, recommendations to industry and authorities are provided. Widespread collaboration between stakeholders is needed, even so, all stakeholders can take action to create better conditions for empty container repositioning. Smarter tools for planning is one example.

Intermodal solutions, compared to the use of only road, in port hinterland transport involve numerous actors and activities that increase operational uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of information, through an information processing perspective, for operational coordination in supporting operational disruption management in intermodal hinterland transport. A qualitative case study approach is adopted to obtain an in-depth understanding of operational coordination in a hinterland transport system. The results provide insights into how the actors use information processing for coordination to influence the mitigation of the impact from operational disruptions. The paper supports managers in improving disruption management by understand the processing of real-time information in the coordination for intermodal hinterland transport solutions. This paper provides input for operational disruptions using information for coordination on a day-to-day basis via an information processing perspective in contrast to the predominant coordination at a strategic level in the literature.

Management of operational disruptions with support of information is essential to facilitate the shift from road to rail and to ensure efficient hinterland intermodal transport chains. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the operational efficiency effects of information on operational disruption management in hinterland transport with a dry port to facilitate efficient intermodal hinterland transport. For that purpose, a simulation model with five scenarios was developed and applied using empirical data from a real-world case of a hinterland transport chain with a dry port. The results show that the resource utilisation of the trucks that deliver containers from the dry port to the receivers can be increased using the information that supports management of the disruption. Nevertheless, in attempts to increase resource utilisation when managing the disruption, issues arose from efficiency measures that are important for other actors, e.g. the receivers. 

To meet increased freight flows through maritime ports, a high level of resource utilisation in hinterland transport is of crucial importance. However, various perspectives on resource utilisation create issues with use of information for operational decisions in port hinterland. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of information related to resource utilisation for operational planning in port hinterland freight transport to facilitate its improvement. The study is case-based, and the data is collected through semi-structured interviews, visual observations, and company documents. The findings are analysed with a framework built from literature emphasising different resource utilisation perspectives and the use of information in road freight transport chain decisions. The findings show that the use of information on resource utilisation in operational freight transport decisions in the port hinterland transport system is limited and lacks a complete system overview. Instead of the information on measured parameters, different types of estimates of efficiency parameters (including resource utilisation) are commonly used for operational planning decisions. The information about the measured indicators has to be combined with other information to obtain an efficient level of resource utilisation; otherwise, it could generate incorrect assumptions regarding utilisation. The paper contributes to the topic of operational freight transport planning by describing the use of information on resource utilisation.