Purpose: Ports rely largely on trucks for hinterland transportation all over the world. With the increasing emphasis on sustainability as well as constant increase in the volume of containers transported across the globe, there is a growing focus on shift from road to rail transportation for connecting container terminals to the hinterlands. However, the existing situation at the ports is not accurately known. This study analyses the hinterland connectivity of container terminals by rail at the major seaports in the world.

Methodology: The analysis is done in two stages. In the first stage, the container terminals are classified into one of three categories based on their access to hinterland rail connectivity. This is done by examining the satellite views of the location of container terminals on OpenStreetMap, Google Maps and Baidu Maps. In stage two, several ports from Europe and USA are studied in further detail by analysing the data from the past years.

Findings: In Stage 1, 100 ports were identified and their container terminals were classified into the three categories. The study reveals that over half the total container terminals at the top 100 ports do not have access to rail. The geographical trends based on this classification is also presented. In Stage 2, the total volume throughput as well as the volumes handled by the different modes of transport are analysed for selected ports in Europe and USA. It is found that road transport still dominates the hinterland transport with only one exception. Furthermore, the destinations served by rail and their distances from the ports are studied to provide further insights into the hinterland rail connectivity of the container terminals. The minimum distance over which rail is used is much shorter than what has been previously suggested in literature.

Originality: The current situation of the container terminals worldwide with regards to their hinterland connectivity is missing from literature. This study serves as a database for various information related to the container terminals which can serve as a starting point for research with regards to terminal planning, sustainability, and hinterland transport. Additionally, a framework to quantitatively analyse the hinterland connectivity is also proposed.

Purpose: Combined transport integrates the advantages of sustainable transport modes, such as railroad or inland waterways, and flexible road transport. It aims at increasing the goods transport sustainability by covering the longest part of a transport path by train or waterway. Rail-road terminals are transshipment nodes of combined transport chains, where the Loading Units (LUs) are moved between trains and trucks. In the most cases, the LUs are also temporary stored in a storage area to decouple the fluctuations in the arrival of trains and trucks. Direct transshipments of LUs between rail and road avoid storage and improve the logistics performance of the terminals. In particular, they enable reducing storage handlings and costs as well as transshipment times of trains and trucks. In addition, they increase the maximum number of trains and trucks that can be processed per time unit (transshipment capacity).

However, the number of direct transshipments at combined transport terminals is currently very small. This is primarily due to the difficulty of synchronizing the arrival of trains and trucks. For estimating the effect of direct transshipments on the logistics objectives it is essential to assess the probability of such operations. This study therefore contributes to modeling the direct transshipments at rail-road combined transport terminals (1) by modeling the probability of such operations and (2) by modeling the effect of direct transshipments on the transshipment capacity of rail-mounted gantry cranes as main working systems of rail-road terminals.

Methodology: This study firstly analyses the requirements for direct transshipments, considering them for two main cases: train-to-truck transshipments and truck-to-train transshipments. Afterwards, it develops a quantitative model for determining the probability of direct transshipments for both cases. Further, it models the effect of direct transshipments on the transshipment capacity of the terminal. Models are evaluated using comprehensive simulation.

Findings: The models enable an analytical evaluation of the probability of direct transshipments and of their effect on the gantry crane transshipment capacity. The simulative evaluation confirms a high accuracy of the models. The probability of direct transshipments mainly depends on the synchronization of truck and train arrivals. In addition, the direct transshipments increase the transshipment capacity of a gantry crane.

Originality: There is a lack of research focusing on direct transshipments at combined transport terminals. Previously, simulation and mathematical optimization are used for their exploration. Taking into account the positive effect of these operations on the logistics objectives of the terminals, this study presents an approach for modeling the probability of direct transshipments and their effect on transshipment capacity of a gantry crane. It helps firstly to understand the cause-effect relations for their occurrence. Secondly, it supports derivation of suitable measures for increasing the number of direct transshipments and for improving logistics performance of rail-road combined transport terminals.

Due to the ever-increasing public demand for goods and services, a steady increase in global emissions can be observed, partly accounted for by the shipping industry. To reduce the ecological footprint of mentioned industry and thus increase its sustainability, this paper examines the extent to which the consumption of a ship can be reduced by path planning algorithms. The focus hereby is placed on the use case of maritime urban transportation and which adjustments to existing methods are necessary to be suited for this application. This means considering the specific requirements and restrictions that apply to the navigation of a ship in an urban environment. Therefore, an extensive study is being carried out to compare different algorithms regarding their suitability for said task. The factors that are already included in the methods and what would be needed to be added to the algorithm to complete this specific task are considered in this. Finally, an approach based on the A*-Algorithm is pursued in which the consumption along the route is to be reduced by taking environmental parameters into account. The resulting algorithms cost function can consider multiple criteria at the same time, therefore being able to solve multi objective optimization problems by applying the weighted product method and adhering to the pareto principle. To draw a comparison to the A*-Algorithm, the proposed method was applied to several use cases. Those were not only limited to urban surroundings, but also open waters. Furthermore, the effect of the environment in the form of the amount of obstacles along the route was investigated for the differing use cases. Thereby, the factors of consumption and runtime were regarded and evaluated for both methods. The use of the proposed algorithm to optimize the route planning of ships can ultimately lead to an increase in efficiency and a reduction in costs, thus increasing competitiveness and future viability.

Companies are increasingly caught between regulatory pressure, the expectations of their stakeholders and media attention when it comes to sustainability related issues. Supply chains specifically have become a focus of attention due to frequent violations of environmental and labour standards. When analysing sustainability in the context of supply chains, so-called ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) ratings from credit rating agencies are often used. However, these can be opaque, obscure underlying problems and vary from agency to agency. Conducting surveys and interviews in cooperation with companies offers deeper insights into a company’s actions, but is time and resource intensive when aiming to cover the full supply chain. Using available information from the company’s sustainability reports can provide a more in-depth picture while simultaneously allowing for large-scale analysis. To this end, Natural Language Processing (NLP) offers a wide range of tools to use on such text-based sources. This study aims to provide a methodological approach to assess the information present in sustainability reports with a variety of NLP-methods and apply them in the context of supply chain networks. To demonstrate the procedure, a set of reports from two related industries, namely logistic service providers and the aviation industry, was collected. First, it is analysed whether or not the contents of the reports correlate with the ESG performance of a company. Instead of relying on the aforementioned ratings for this purpose, a set of proxies related to ESG issues is used. It is argued that a positive correlation resembles honest efforts, while a negative correlation could hint at efforts to subvert from bad performance or controversies, so-called “greenwashing”. To investigate this correlation, a topic model is employed to cluster the sentences within the reports. Subsequently, a classification algorithm is assigning these topics to their respective ESG dimension. Sentence similarity is then used for the alignment of topics across firm-year observations. The correlation is tested through an econometric model to verify whether the topics discussed in the underlying reports influence the individual sustainability dimensions’ performance of a company.

Urban delivery optimization often involves using Euclidean distances to test routing models and provide practical recommendations. However, the different nature of delivery environments and means of transportation can result in discrepancies between Euclidean distances and actual distances, which then presents a challenge to the effective application of routing models in real-world scenarios. Spatial metrics may offer a way to bridge this gap by helping us understand the structure of networks, as they analyze the connections between locations, provide information about road layouts, and identify bottlenecks and barriers. This presentation will explore the relationship between selected spatial metrics and network efficiency in routing problems, focusing on the difference between pedestrian, bicycle, and road networks in different urban areas. Initial findings suggest that the accuracy of Euclidean distances varies depending on the type of network and the size of the area considered. For localized trips, bicycle and pedestrian routes are generally more efficient than routes for motorized traffic. However, there are some cases where this may not hold true, depending on the overall structure of the transportation network. Therefore, it may be helpful to consider the specific urban structure before applying general findings to real-life scenarios.

Currently, supply chains are characterized by an increasing number of actors, and collaborative solutions have been adopted to enhance value within these supply chains. At the same time, companies are increasingly adopting logistics outsourcing to establish relationships with logistics service providers (LSPs). According to the literature, LSPs are crucial in conducting supply networks and are pivotal in promoting collaboration (Prataviera et al., 2023). However, there remains a gap in understanding their role in fostering collaboration, primarily because most studies adopt a dyadic supplier-customer approach, overlooking the role of LSPs (Luo et al., 2023). Therefore, this study aims to analyze the role of LSPs in promoting collaboration among companies in the two-wheel sector in Portugal. To this end, a questionnaire focused on company interactions, logistics outsourcing, and the quality of relationships was distributed to 92 companies, achieving a response rate of 45.65%.

Three main conclusions emerged from the analysis of the data collected. Firstly, based on Social Network Analysis (SNA), which facilitates the representation of companies and calculation of metrics at both node and network levels, an LSP emerges as one of the key players. LSP provides services to other companies that manufacture parts, components, and bicycle assembly. Secondly, there is a notable adoption of logistics outsourcing, reflecting a trend where companies outsource non-core activities to concentrate on core functions. Notably, transport and customs services are the most frequently outsourced activities, with companies citing flexibility, cost reduction, and improved delivery times as the primary benefits, underscoring the fundamental role of LSP in supply chains. On the other hand, significant barriers associated with logistics outsourcing include commitment and governance mechanisms. Thirdly, regarding relationship quality, significant differences in perception were observed within the LSP-customer dyad across six dimensions studied: trust, commitment, satisfaction, collaboration, communication, and relationship-specific assets. Customers perceive a higher level of trust compared to the LSP. Conversely, LSP rates its customers higher in the remaining dimensions, especially in relationship-specific assets.

This empirical study captures the characteristics of the two-wheel sector in Portugal, focusing on its structure and prominent players. Unlike prior studies that overlooked the role of LSPs, this study explores their role as pivotal network actors, identifying companies' outsourced logistics activities and the benefits and barriers associated with this practice. Moreover, there is also a focus on evaluating the quality of the relationship with the LSP, which makes it possible to capture possible differences in perception in dyadic relationships.

Objective: propose and test a methodology for assessing supply chain resilience requirements in a company. The methodology is composed by three logical steps: (i) the assessment of the current state of the supply chain resilience capabilities, (ii) the identification of the prioritized capabilities and (iii) the comparison between the current state and the prioritized capabilities to identify supply chain resilience requirements and directions for actions.

Methodology: based on the literature review, four main categories of risk sources and six supply chain resilience capabilities are identified and described through their enablers. The proposed approach is validated using a two-step methodology. The unit of analysis is a company, and the methodologies have been applied to three manufacturing companies. First, interviews with managers were conducted to understand their supply chain configuration, the risk sources they have to manage, as well as how they prevent, respond and react to these potential disruptions. Overall, seven interviews were conducted with managers of different functions to have a broader perspective of disruptions and resilience responses. Based on the interviews and the initial mapping of capabilities and disruptions, a workshop was conducted with other stakeholders within the case studies (about 2 people per company), with the objective of proposing a risk-capability prioritisation map.

Initial findings: all the companies are experiencing a wide variety of disruptions, both internal and external to the company. Among the most recurring and relevant in terms of impact severity and frequency, companies mentioned Availability of supplies, Internal disruptions due to facility breakdown, Natural disasters, Epidemics and pandemics, and Geopolitical issues. A widespread recognition and knowledge of the risks threatening the supply chain of case studies emerged. The companies have mentioned they use a wide range of enablers, which support all the identified capabilities. They mentioned Awareness and Alertness, Velocity and Flexibility as essential to tackling all the most relevant risk sources. Other capabilities are needed to tackle specific risk sources, for instance, Visibility is supportive when suppliers’ lead time are longer than expected. While Collaboration is helpful in the case of Environmental risks such as Natural disasters and Epidemics and pandemics, as well as for Internal risks such as Availability of supplies and Facility breakdowns.

Practical and theoretical implications: this research, firstly, contributes to the resilience body of knowledge by discussing the role of certain capabilities in reducing disruption propagation. Secondly, by merging the literature review and empirical results we propose a methodology for companies to assess supply chain resilience capabilities against disruptions. Moreover, bridging the gap between theoretical resilience research and practical application with real-world case studies opens the door for further studies and generalization across different industries.

Understanding potential risks enables companies to implement proactive measures to mitigate their impacts during emergencies, thereby enhancing the resilience of their supply chains. This paper aims to develop a comprehensive framework for the risk assessment of suppliers, enabling the identification of existing supplier-related risks. By fostering risk awareness, companies can implement effective measures to accelerate the return to their original state following a disruption.

Given disruptions such as the Suez Canal blockage, the global economic impacts of a pandemic, or a war, the necessity of integrating resilience into corporate strategies is more evident than ever. Supply chain resilience can be defined as a supply chains ability to quickly return to its original state or a new, more preferable state after a disruption. In the dynamic field of supply chain management, maintaining resilience against disruptions is crucial for the integrity and performance of supply chains. Technological advancements, rising customer demands, and intense competition have further increased the complexity and interdependence of global supply chains. Despite these challenges, supplier selection criteria primarily focus on delivery reliability, quality, and cost.

Supply networks consist of various interconnected actors. To strengthen the resilience of an entire supply network, it is initially advisable to enhance the resilience at individual nodes. For this purpose, the risk assessment of individual actors within a supply network is crucial, especially from a customer’s perspective in evaluating the risks associated with their suppliers. This external risk assessment allows the customer to identify the risks posed by their suppliers and to preemptively enhance robustness at the more vulnerable nodes.

Supply Chain Risk Management has garnered significant attention from experts and academics worldwide. However, there is often an absence of clear differentiation between risk dimensions and factors, complicating a uniform understanding of key risk aspects. This ambiguity leads to varying interpretations and, consequently, different levels of analysis. This paper presents a comprehensive framework for the analysis and assessment of supplier risks.

We identify a range of risk factors associated with suppliers and develop a multidimensional assessment framework that categorizes suppliers according to their risk levels. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive mapping of information sources relevant to the identification of supplier risks. Our approach is based on the external customer perspective, assessing the potential failure risk of a supplier, considering the availability of information from an external viewpoint. The framework is derived from a variety of theoretical factors but is designed with a focus on practical applicability. It is thus not merely a theoretical construct but an operational tool for evaluating actors within an entire supply network. By identifying potential risks among the actors, companies can develop detailed response strategies that can be quickly implemented in case of a disruption. In this way, a company can shorten the duration of disruptions, as measures exist to restore the original state as quickly as possible. Our findings underscore the critical importance of integrating risk analysis into supplier management processes, as this can be used as a lever to improve the overall resilience of a supply chain.

This study examines current practices in the horticultural supply chain to inform future scenarios, with a focus on supply chain coordination. The study was motivated by the limited research linking the rural horticulture supply chain, post-harvest losses,and agricultural practices. The main objective was to identify the practices in the supply chain that contribute to post-harvest losses and to propose strategies to reduce these losses. The data collection took place in two phases. The first phase comprised six focus group discussions (FGDs) with smallholder farmers, policymakers, extension staff, and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), financial institutions, and civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. Additional insights were gained through interviews with key informants from the transport sector, entrepreneurs, and agricultural offices, in which a total of 61 people participated. In the second phase, 221 people involved in the horticultural supply chain in these regions were interviewed. Data analysis for the first phase followed the principles of explanatory inference to account for the complex dynamics of the horticultural supply chain, while structural equation modeling was used in the second phase. The results show that the performance of the rural horticulture supply chain is affected by several factors, including lack of coordination, poor information sharing, and inadequate communication. The presence of multiple actors using different and poor means of transport such as oxen, auto-rickshaws, motorbikes, and pickups— leads to multiple handling before the produce reaches the market. In addition, lack of information on commodity movement, asynchronous harvesting practices, poor demand forecasting, poor production planning, inefficient harvesting, and inappropriate packaging complicate the logistical challenges and hinder decision-making by smallholder farmers. The lack of suitable warehouses within the supply chain increases the risk of post-harvest losses due to inadequate storage facilities, especially in rural areas. The combination of a fragmented supply chain, transport problems, and inadequate infrastructure significantly exacerbates post-harvest losses, which account for 40% of the harvest and result in a lower market value. Given the critical role that transporters play in maintaining the freshness and nutritional value of perishable produce, there is an urgent need to prioritize efficient logistics and robust transport networks, especially in rural areas. Future strategies should include the establishment of logistics hubs, digitization and information points that facilitate real-time data integration, delivery routes, performance monitoring and information sharing. This should go hand in hand with well-planned production and coordinated harvesting. Appropriate handling and transport means to optimize the supply chain and reduce post-harvest losses are important. This study offers new insights into the challenges faced by rural smallholders in the horticultural supply chain and provides practical recommendations to improve resilience. Its focus on coordination, information access and infrastructure development sets it apart from other studies in this area. The findings are broadly applicable to rural horticultural supply chains in less developed countries.

Transportation plays a key role in creating mobility for both freight and people thus facilitating growth of various industrial sectors. Tanzania is a gateway to in-transit cargo destined for landlocked neighbouring countries of Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. Cognizant of this advantage, it envisages becoming an industrial hub of the East African region by 2025. Amidst this vision, Tanzania experiences an increasing vehicle density rate and the highest fatality rate (Kircher & Andersson, 2013) that is partly attributed to an increase of affluent middle class and rapid urbanization on the one hand, and the increase of in-transit cargo through the port of Dar es Salaam on the other.

At the centre of dense traffic, truck drivers are an important segment taking charge of the transportation operations. They facilitate right time, quantity and location delivery (Koberg & Longoni, 2019; Speranza, 2018). However, Tanzania’s transportation sector is vulnerable to increased inefficiency as a result of overly restrictive regulation in multiple ways. For example, there are heightened vehicle weight controls and several speed bumps installed on road highways. We argue that such overly regulation makes it uncompetitive relative to comparator countries. Such measures demand high compliance levels by truck drivers who struggle to meet their tight turn–around–time (TAT) schedules imposed by cargo owners and their employers. Existing literature documents more on drivers as dominant players of the sector by focusing on their emotional exhaustion (Nakata et al., 2022), long working hours (Hege et al., 2019) and loss of life and freight due to poor infrastructure (Girotto, et al., 2019) and corruption (Garbarino et al., 2018) as risk factors that jeopardize their overall performance (Semeijn et al., 2019). Undoubtedly, competitiveness of the sector depends on a number of factors working together as a system for which the current literature falls short. To fill this gap, we address the following research question: what is the cumulative systemic effect of the various dimensions related to the sector? In response to this question, we present a holistic framework of the combined effect of truck drivers, vehicles, infrastructure and legal enforcement with a view to broadening our understanding of the matter.

Theoretically, due to inclusion of multiple perspectives affecting transportation sector efficiency, this study benefited from the use of an ecological model of health behaviour and the Principal-agent theory. We administered a questionnaire to 112 respondents from six Logistics companies, one Association of truck operators in Tanzania and the Traffic Police department. Some in-depth interviews were also held with a few informants from the Ministry of Transport. The data were analyzed through factor and multiple linear regression analyses.

Findings indicate that transportation inefficiencies can be addressed by enhancing the combined effect of drivers, infrastructure status, legal administration and vehicles’ road worthiness as opposed to individual factors even though driver-related factors are the most significant. These findings point towards harmonization of policies across ministries in order to make the sector competitive and resilient against the surge of transit cargo thus facilitating the industrialization process.

The increase in global logistics and supply chain and the integration of logistics information communication technology (LICT) have created a new business model for organisations as they compete to balance supply and demand to satisfy consumers. As the new business model evolves, it poses more threats and challenges within the business environment. These changes have spurred proliferation of sophisticated LICT for leveraging agility and visibility in supply, especially product distribution to enhance productivity and, most significantly, anytime, anywhere, anyhow, through any device delivery and receiving of products to the customers. The degree to which SMEs distribution strategies have been innovatively reconstructed through LICT to improve SMEs distribution relationship network and performance within the South African context has not been scientifically investigated. This study investigates how the adoption of LICTs helped SMEs reimagine their distribution chains to enhance network relationship. Hence, the proposed study timely and relevant. By this means, scientific recommendations will emerge based on the SMEs distribution relationship network for operational improvement and resilience, which could contribute significantly to the economy's GDP. The main objective of this research is to structurally model the impact of LICT on SMEs distribution relationship network and distribution service performance.

The study employs a quantitative survey method and a purpose-sampling technique to collect comprehensive data from SMEs in different sectors within the Northern Cape, South Africa. Data collected analysis techniques to be used include factor analyses and structural equation modelling. Analysis would be carried out using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, SMART-PLS version (4.0) and the R programming language. The findings of this study are expected to help SMEs practitioners and policy makers understand the benefit of the distribution relationship network through LICT compatibility and how investment in these areas can be prioritised to improve SMEs and economic growth. Furthermore, the finding would assist SMEs competition regulatory bodies in mediating or moderating the impact of technology-enabled distribution relationship network on distribution performance. Future research directions are also expected to emerge from this exploratory study.

Note: This research is funded by Sol Plaatje University's MIT Research Grant.