Road Transport System

1. Introduction

In this section you will learn more about the road transport system. First, you will learn what activities drive the system and what kind of goods are transported on the road. After that, the road vehicles and the infrastructure of roads are being presented to you. Furthermore, the facilities in road transport are described. Finally, you will learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of the road transport system.

In this section, the following aspects are presented:

The activities, that are driving the road system,
goods, that are normally transported via road,
the used road vehicles,
the road infrastructure and its relevant facilities.

From a system perspective, the goal of the system must be clarified first. As explained in the section introducing the system model, the main goal of the subsystems (for transport) considered in the following topics is the change of location.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, the relocation should be done at the lowest possible cost. There is an overall consideration of the costs, which takes into account not only the pure transport costs, but also the total costs of the transport system. The more the production or trading system depends on the timely provision of goods and commodities, the more the total cost of the supply chain is considered.

The following applies to almost all modes of transport: the larger the transport container, the higher the economic and usually also the ecological efficiency.

In this sense, especially in long-distance transport, the largest possible transport containers are used in order to be able to take advantage of economies of scale (volume degression effect). This also applies to just-in-time supply chains, where the goods must be provided in the right place at the right time.

For a better understanding of the road transport, an overview of the various system elements is given to you on the following pages. The elements and relations of the road system model are shown in the figure "Road system model". At the end of this topic, the advantages and disadvantages of road transport are elaborated in order to understand the reasons for choosing road transport.

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So let's start with the first element activites on the next page.

Literature

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

2. Activities

On this page, the element "Activities" of the conceptual system model of transport and traffic is described.

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Goods mobility only arises when demand is stimulated by activities. We as consumers are driving the system. When there is a demand, orders inevitably arise, which thus represent the control medium.
The two essential points are:

We as consumer drive the system.
The order is the steering medium.

After the activities, the goods need to be produced and transported afterwards, so we will introduce you to the goods on the next page.

Literature

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

3. Goods

When we talk about the road transport system, it is important to know the goods that are transported by road. Therefore, the element "Goods" is presented to you on this page.

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Almost all types of goods can be transported by road, with the exception of goods that are too big or too heavy for the clearance profile of the road infrastructure.

The transported goods can have different aggregate states:

gaseous
liquid
solid

The goods can have different shippings sizes, that differ in terms of

dimensions and
weight.

In case of some types of goods, e.g. hazardous goods, there are also legal restrictions with regard to the use of certain road infrastructures.

The relation between goods and road vehicles is called transport.

Transport

In Germany, around 3200 million tonnes are transported by German trucks, leading to a transport performance of nearly 310 billion TKT.
The following figure "Transport quantity and performance in Germany" shows the transport quantity [million tonnes] as well as the transport performance [billion tonne kilometres] operated by the commercial and the own account transport.

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Road transport needs movables, who are transporting the goods. The next page will introduce you to the road vehicles used in road transport.

Literature

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) (2019): Verkehr deutscher Lastkraftfahrzeuge (VD). Gesamtverkehr Dezember 2018. VD 5. Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt,Flensburg. URL: https://www.kba.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Statistik/Kraftverkehr/VD5/vd5_201812_pdf.pdf;jsessionid=E92610FDD67F1131D8C20B39B8611E2A.live11313?__blob=publicationFile&v=1 (last access: 30.03.2022).

4. Road vehicles

Another element of the conceptual system model is called road vehicles. There are many different models of road vehicles that can transport different goods.

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The type and physical condition of the goods to be transported, their dimensions and weights, their transport unit and the size of the shipment determine the requirements for the transport container.

This so-called loading unit usually determines the choice of the movable for transport.

Recently, small means of transport associated with less resource consumption and pollution have started to play a greater role in industrialized countries, but only on the last mile.

Some different types of road vehicles are listed below and some of them are shown in the figure "Road vehicles":

trailer
articulated vehicle
road train
quadricylemotor
tricycles
motorcycles and e-scooters
mopeds and e-Bike
bikes
roboter
per pedes

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If road vehicles are using the road infrastructure, traffic is generated. It is not uncommon, that the capacity of the road is reached due to the high transport volume. How the road capacity is determined in general is explained below.

Traffic

The maximum capacity of the road transport system is limited by the length of the roads, the number of lanes and the permitted speed. The realized speed is limited by the number of intersections or traffic lights respectively their control and the number of vehicles on each road section.

If you want to see the traffic volume in Hamburg with numbers, feel free to visit this website:

Hamburg traffic report | TomTom Traffic Index

There you can also find some statistics, e.g. a comparison of this year's traffic volume with last year's.

Literature

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

TomTom International BV. (2021): Hamburg traffic. URL: https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/hamburg-traffic/ (last access: 30.03.2022)

4.1. Quiz - Properties or requirements of transport determining choices

Now you learned, what kind of goods are transported with what kind of road vehicles. You are welcome to test your acquired knowledge with the following question:

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5. Roads

On this page, you will learn more about the element infrastructure. In case of the road transport system, "Roads" are representing the infrastructure of the road transport system.

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As you have already learned, road infrastructure is required to generate road traffic.

There are different types of roads like:

federal highways
federal roads
state roads
districts roads
private roads

These road classes differ in terms of their connecting function and meaning, their standard distance range and their target car driving speed.

The geometric and weight-related dimensions of the trucks permitted on European roads differ in part. This is usually based on a social dialogue about the costs of providing the road infrastructure and possible consequences of the accident.

In addition, there is the question of a modal shift from the more environmentally friendly means of transport, rail and ship, in the past to the truck if its efficiency is increased.

The relation between roads and facilities is called land use.

Land use

is the location of facilities at specific sites.
is the combined result of public planning and complex market mechanisms.
may be seen as an interaction between a planned facility and infrastructure in its widest sense.
results in giving the facility a permanent address.

Literature

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

International Transport Forum (2019): Permissible maximum weights of lorries in Europe. URL: https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/weights-2019.pdf (last access: 30.03.2022)

6. Facilities

On this page, the last element "Facilities" is presented to you.

Facilities are the interfaces at the start and end points as well as in the supply chain. From a market point of view, the start or end point is the location of the consignor or consignee. Both market participants can be, for example, private households, public authorities or companies from all branches.

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Almost every market participant has access to road infrastructure but rarely to other modes of transport. In the transport chain, the facilities are sites of logistics companies, where all market participants are logistics companies. Examples are ports, airports or cross-docking facilities. Often, these transhipment facilities are intermodally connected, meaning that one or more other modes of transport also have access to these locations. But on the pre- or on-carriage leg, road vehicles are used in most cases.

There are also pure road-bound transport chains, e.g. with cross-docking facilities, where the load units are transferred from one vehicle to another. In Germany, Hermes has had collective orderer since the early 1950s and shops since the end of the 1960s. This gave rise to the model for small and medium-sized logistics nodes or transfer points, ranging from shops and boxes to buses and containers, in order to be able to bundle the transport of goods on the last mile. In some cases, the end customers now have to collect their goods there. Therefore, delivery traffic (goods transport) becomes shopping traffic (and appears in passenger transport statistics).

The size of the vehicle may differ between the ramp for goods receipt and goods issue of these nodes.

The relation between facilities and goods is called accession.

Accession

An existing infrastructure with well-developed transport networks needs additional access points at the appropriate locations. Here we will show you three different perspectives on accessibility:

From a micro perspective, accession is the possibility of goods being handed over to the recipient. Here it is usually construction measures of the building that limit the possibilities of direct transfer of goods (e.g. via a ramp) from the road vehicle to the recipient.
The meso perspective refers to the accessibility of the location of the consignee. Consignees with many suppliers in trade or industry or, for example, on large construction sites often experience traffic jams and significant time losses on the part of the carrier.
The macro perspective is the condition of the infrastructure to access a location. The dimensions (weight and size of the permissible vehicles) play a role here, as do possible restrictions on the time or space available for certain types of vehicles. But also the density of the traffic flow on the infrastructure restricts the accessibility of a location in the macro perspective.

In Germany, a lot of logistics locations are located close to the german highway. By choosing this location, the logistics companies are easy to reach and integrate in the transport process.

Sometimes, the accessibility of the road infrastructure is restricted. This map shows, where urban access regulations exist. You can see that different regions have different types of urban access restrictions. Mainly, the access is restricted with Low Emissions Zones (green) or other Key Access Regulations (blue, especially in Italy). Low emission zones are a form of urban action against traffic-related pollution.

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For a more comprehensive overview of applicable urban access regulations, feel free to visit this website:

Urban Access Regulations in Europe

Literature
Clausen, U.; Lenz, B. (2014): Integration logistischer Knoten und ihres spezifischen Verkehrs-aufkommens in die Nachfragemodellierung des Güterverkehrs. DFG-Projekt (Projektnummer: 179833699).

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

Sadler Consultants Ltd (2020): Urban Access Regulation by Map. URL: https://urbanaccessregulations.eu/userhome/map (last access: 21.06.2021)

6.1. Quiz - Perspectives of the accessibility of locations

Now you learned, what accessibility in road transport means and what restrictions might exist. You are welcome to test your acquired knowledge with the following question:

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On the next page you will find a short summary of the road transport system.

7. Summary

When deciding which mode of transport should be used, the different advantages and disadvantages of the various modes of transport need to be taken into account.

To summarize the most important information, the advantages and disadvantages of the road transport are listed below.

It can be seen that road transport is very flexible and adaptable due to the free choice of routes. However, it also reaches its capacity limits and is not entirely inexpensive.

Advantages

door-to-door-/conveyor-to-conveyor-transports are possible
suitability for specific types of goods
high flexibility (availability, costs, schedules)
high adaptability to the rhythm of production
almost unified road system in Europe
accompanied transportation (by driver)
low market entry barriers

Disadvantages

low labor productivity
comparatively low mass performance
comparatively high transport costs (per tkm)
low energy efficiency
high external costs
exclusion of certain dangerous goods
relatively uncertain transport processing due to traffic jams, weather effects etc.

Now you know the most important things about the road transport system. If you are interested in other modes of transport too, feel free to check our other topics rail transport system, inland waterway transport system, maritime transport system and air transport system.

Literature
Schulte, C. (1991): Logistik. Wege zur Optimierung des Material- und Informationsflusses. Verlag Franz Vahlen, München.

7.1. Quiz - Disadvantages of road transport

To help you consolidate the pros and cons, feel free to check yourself with this quiz:

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8. Literature

Clausen, U.; Lenz, B. (2014): Integration logistischer Knoten und ihres spezifischen Verkehrs-aufkommens in die Nachfragemodellierung des Güterverkehrs. DFG-Projekt (Projektnummer: 179833699).

Flämig, H., Sjöstedt, L., Hertel, C. (2002): Multimodal Transport: An Integrated Element for Last-Mile-Solutions? Proceedings, part 1; International Congress on Freight Transport Automation and Multimodality: Organisational and Technological Innovations. Delft, 23 & 24 May 2002. (modification of Sjöstedt 1996)

International Transport Forum (2019): Permissible maximum weights of lorries in Europe. URL: https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/weights-2019.pdf (last access: 30.03.2022).

Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) (2019): Verkehr deutscher Lastkraftfahrzeuge (VD). Gesamtverkehr Dezember 2018. VD 5. Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt,Flensburg. URL: https://www.kba.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Statistik/Kraftverkehr/VD5/vd5_201812_pdf.pdf;jsessionid=E92610FDD67F1131D8C20B39B8611E2A.live11313?__blob=publicationFile&v=1 (last access: 30.03.2022).

Sadler Consultants Ltd (2020): Urban Access Regulation by Map. URL: https://urbanaccessregulations.eu/userhome/map (last access: 30.03.2022).

Schulte, C. (1991): Logistik. Wege zur Optimierung des Material- und Informationsflusses. Verlag Franz Vahlen, München.

TomTom International BV. (2021): Hamburg traffic. URL: https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/hamburg-traffic/ (last access: 30.03.2022).

Website:	Hamburg Open Online University
Kurs:	MoGoLo - Mobility of Goods and Logistics Systems
Buch:	Road Transport System

Gedruckt von:	Gast
Datum:	Freitag, 18. Oktober 2024, 22:32

Road Transport System

Beschreibung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction

2. Activities

3. Goods

Transport

4. Road vehicles

Traffic

4.1. Quiz - Properties or requirements of transport determining choices

5. Roads

Land use

6. Facilities

Accession

6.1. Quiz - Perspectives of the accessibility of locations

7. Summary

7.1. Quiz - Disadvantages of road transport

8. Literature