Summary of IOT Publications
| Title | The Feasibility Study of Freight Transshipment Centers in Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Dept | IOT |
| Year | 1998 |
| Summary | In Taiwan, the less-than-truckload (LTL) industry consists of two major groups, common and contract carriers. The common carriers are those who provide time definite cargo or general cargo services. A proper network configuration for each carrier is extremely critical to their operational efficiency. The current network structure consists of a set of centers in which some of them perform consolidation function as needed. However, the external environments for common carriers are undergoing a dramatic change. For example, a major expansion of inter-city express highway systems － the construction of the second National Highway System and east-west inter-city express ways, may substantially improve the inter-city traffic, while the increase of automobile ownership in urban area may continuously deteriorate the intra-city traffic. Carriers have to re-configure their distribution network to respond to the changes of the external environment. The new structure is a hub-and-spoke network that consists of a few high-capacity but fully automated hubs with an increasing number of smaller spokes scattered proportionally with population density in major metropolitan areas. To make such a transition possible, carriers have to acquire land in proper locations. The acquisition is an extremely difficult task for carriers, since most of them are small business entrepreneurs. The government's intervention of land acquisition for common carriers is justified under the ground rule that the nature of common carriers to freight transport is the same as the mass transit providers to passengers transport. This research concludes with three strategies to reduce the hardship for carriers in acquiring suitable lots. They are: 1)to modify the current land use and subdivision codes under the conditions that there are no performance conflicts with other activities. 2) to encourage the construction of large scale automated consolidation facilities by common carriers and physical distribution logistics centers by contract carriers. 3) to provide incentives for public or private sector agencies to construct freight transshipment centers on the outskirts of major cities. At the end of the research, we conduct a feasibility study for a freight transshipment center in the Taipei metropolitan area. In addition, we identify a few possible locations, the laws and regulations for legal developers and common carriers who are potential users of the center. |
| Post date | 1998-02-02 |