Transportation management

A transportation management system (TMS) is a subset of supply chain management concerning transportation operations and may be part of an enterprise resource planning system.A TMS usually "sits" between an ERP or legacy order processing and warehouse/distribution module. A typical scenario would include both inbound (procurement) and outbound (shipping) orders to be evaluated by the TMS Planning Module offering the user various suggested routing solutions. These solutions are evaluated by the user for reasonableness and are passed along to the transportation provider analysis module to select the best mode and least cost provider. Once the best provider is selected, the solution typically generates electronic load tendering and track/trace to execute the optimized shipment with the selected carrier, and later to support freight audit and payment (settlement process). Links back to ERP systems (after orders turned into optimal shipments), and sometimes secondarily to WMS programs also linked to ERP are also common.Transportation management systems manage four key processes of transportation management:

1. Planning and decision making – TMS will define the most efficient transport schemes according to given parameters, which have a lower or higher importance according to the user policy: transport cost, shorter lead-time, fewer stops possible to ensure quality, flows regrouping coefficient, etc.

1. Transportation Execution – TMS will allow for the execution of the transportation plan such as carrier rate acceptance, carrier dispatching, EDI etc..

1. Transport follow-up – TMS will allow following any physical or administrative operation regarding transportation: traceability of transport event by event (shipping from A, arrival at B, customs clearance, etc.), editing of reception, custom clearance, invoicing and booking documents, sending of transport alerts (delay, accident, non-forecast stops…)

1. Measurement – TMS have or need to have a logistics key performance indicator (KPI) reporting function for transport.

Various functions of a TMS include but not limited to:

• Planning and optimizing of terrestrial transport rounds

• Inbound and outbound transportation mode and transportation provider selection

• Management of motor carrier, rail, air and maritime transport

• Real time transportation tracking

• Service quality control in the form of KPI's (see below)

• Vehicle Load and Route optimization

• Transport costs and scheme simulation

• Shipment batching of orders

• Cost control, KPI (Key performance indicators) reporting and statistics

Type of market structure

Monopolistic competition, is a type of imperfect competition such that many producers sell products that are differentiated from one another (e.g. by branding or quality) and hence are not perfect substitutes. In monopolistic competition, a firm takes the prices charged by its rivals as given and ignores the impact of its own prices on the prices of other firms. Oligopoly, in which a market is run by a small number of firms that together control the majority of the market share. Duopoly, a special case of an oligopoly with two firms. Monopsony, when there is only one buyer in a market. Oligopsony , a market where many sellers can be present but meet only a few buyers.  Monopoly, where there is only one provider of a product or service. Natural monopoly, a monopoly in which economies of scale cause efficiency to increase continuously with the size of the firm. A firm is a natural monopoly if it is able to serve the entire market demand at a lower cost than any combination of two or more smaller, more specialized firms. Perfect competition, a theoretical market structure that features no barriers to entry, an unlimited number of producers and consumers, and a perfectly elastic demand curve.

 

The imperfectly competitive structure is quite identical to the realistic market conditions where some monopolistic competitors, monopolists, oligopolists, and duopolists exist and dominate the market conditions. The elements of Market Structure include the number and size distribution of firms, entry conditions, and the extent of differentiation.

These somewhat abstract concerns tend to determine some but not all details of a specific concrete market system where buyers and sellers actually meet and commit to trade. Competition is useful because it reveals actual customer demand and induces the seller (operator) to provide service quality levels and price levels that buyers (customers) want, typically subject to the seller’s financial need to cover its costs. In other words, competition can align the seller’s interests with the buyer’s interests and can cause the seller to reveal his true costs and other private information. In the absence of perfect competition, three basic approaches can be adopted to deal with problems related to the control of market power and an asymmetry between the government and the operator with respect to objectives and information: (a) subjecting the operator to competitive pressures, (b) gathering information on the operator and the market, and (c) applying incentive regulation

Quick Reference to Basic Market Structures
Market Structure	Seller Entry Barriers	Seller Number	Buyer Entry Barriers	Buyer Number
Perfect Competition	No	Many	No	Many
Monopolistic competition	No	Many	No	Many
Oligopoly	Yes	Few	No	Many
Oligopsony	No	Many	Yes	Few
Monopoly	Yes	One	No	Many
Monopsony	No	Many	Yes	One

The correct sequence of the market structure from most to least competitive is perfect competition, imperfect competition, oligopoly, and pure monopoly.

The main criteria by which one can distinguish between different market structures are: the number and size of producers and consumers in the market, the type of goods and services being traded, and the degree to which information can flow freely.

Pipeline as mode of transport

Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Liquids and gases are transported in pipelines and any chemically stable substance can be sent through a pipeline. Sewage, slurry, water, and even beer pipelines exist; but arguably the most valuable are those transporting crude petroleum and refined petroleum product including fuels: oil, natural gas, and biofuels. Pneumatic tubes using compressed air can be used to transport solid capsules.

Oil pipelines are made from steel or plastic tubes with inner diameter typically from 4 to 48 inches (100 to 1,220 mm). Most pipelines are typically buried at a depth of about 3 to 6 feet (0.91 to 1.83 m). To protect pipes from impact, abrasion, and corrosion, a variety of methods are used. These can include wood lagging (wood slats), concrete coating,  rock shield, high-density polyethylene, imported sand padding, and padding machines.

For natural gas, pipelines are constructed of carbon steel and vary in size from 2 to 60 inches (51 to 1,524 mm) in diameter, depending on the type of pipeline. The gas is pressurized by compressor stations and is odorless unless mixed with a odorant where required by a regulating authority.

Pipelines have been used for transportation of ethanol in Brazil, and there are several ethanol pipeline projects in Brazil and the United States. Main problems related to the shipment of ethanol by pipeline are its high oxygen content, which makes it corrosive, and absorption of water and impurities in pipelines, which is not a problem with oil and natural gas Insufficient volumes and cost-effectiveness are other considerations limiting construction of ethanol pipelines.

In places, a pipeline may have to cross water expanses, such as small seas, straights and rivers In many instances, they lie entirely on a seabed. These pipelines are referred to as marine pipelines (also: submarine or offshore). They are used primarily to carry oil or gas, but transportation of water is also important. In offshore projects, a distinction is made between a flow line and a pipeline^. The former is an interfiled pipeline, in the sense that it is used to connect subsea wellheads, manifolds and the platform within a particular development field. The latter, sometimes referred to as an export pipeline, is used to bring the resource to shore. The construction and maintenance of marine pipelines imply logistical challenges that are different from those on land, mainly because of wave and current dynamics, along with other geohazard.

 

Information management important in logistics

 Information management important in logistics because to support better management decision. In order to make right decision in all activities to the organizations and company. In business management, manager need to know and explore many types of information and that has the relevant data to make decisions ahead of the competitor in good management information system can keep to ensure that managers have information they need when they need it. By implementing the efficiency information management, operational will give more advantages to organization and reduce operating cost, reduce risk. For example, to use transportation services, they need to know all information about their required information system such as the schedule of delivery, the routing and time. So we can improved our efficiency services.

  Besides that, it important because to improve efficiency and productivity. It is because time spent searching for missing or misfiled record in non productive. A good record management program like a document system can help any they to upgrade their record keeping systems so that information can easy to keep in and easy to search so they didn't need to search from early. It also can deliver information to user as quickly as they need it. It also can be a better customer services. For example, SMK (Sistem maklumat kastam), the carrier can fill up the information about the cargo with quickly and can send to custom as fast as possible without need to meet or go to custom offices so it can make the carrier's job will become easier and the receiver will receive all details about the cargo as soon as possible.

   It also for advertisement purpose. In the business world that always give challenges to be the wealthiest business company. Advertisement are very important to attract customer. Nowadays, advertisement always make changes through the technology development. For example, information management for advertisement has develop from advertisement at newspaper to advertise in internet. Advertise at internet through blog and company websites. Recently, e-bay were got customer internationally which make it sites be the one of famous online business sites because it provides information detailed about the product description via internet that make customer easily access anywhere.

   Information management important in logistics because it can minimize the risk for example like product damage. Nowadays, technology was increase and give many advantages for the example is track and trace. Track and trace also can help to find the location of goods and from that can avoid from the product missing. Besides that, we also can know whether the carrier use the right way or maybe has change the way. Futhermore, bar coding also can helps to reduces risk of product missing. It is because when the product is out of stock the inventory also have a lower stock. So the alarm will be arrived to manager and the alarm will be arrived to supplier.

Transportation and Economic Opportunities

Transportation developments that have taken place since the beginning of the industrial revolution have been linked to growing economic opportunities. At each stage of human societal development, a particular transport mode has been developed or adapted. However, it has been observed that throughout history that no single transport has been solely responsible for economic growth. Instead, modes have been linked with the function and the geography in which growth was taking place. The first trade routes established a rudimentary system of distribution and transactions that would eventually be expanded by long distance maritime shipping networks and the setting of the first multinational corporations. Major flows of international migration that occurred since the 18th century were linked with the expansion of international and continental transport systems that radically shaped emerging economies such as in North America and Australia. Transport has played a catalytic role in these migrations, transforming the economic and social geography of many nations.

Transportation has been a tool of territorial control and exploitation, particularly during the colonial era where resource-based transport systems supported the extraction of commodities in the developing world and forwarded them to the industrializing nations of the time. More recently, port development, particularly container ports, has been of strategic interest as a tool of integration to the global economy as the case of China illustrates. There is commonly a direct relation between foreign trade and container port volumes. Due to demographic pressures and increasing urbanization, developing countries are characterized by a mismatch between limited supply and growing demand for transport infrastructure. While some regions benefit from the development of transport systems, others are often marginalized by a set of conditions in which inadequate transportation plays a role. Transport by itself is not a sufficient condition for development. However, the lack of transport infrastructures can be seen as a constraining factor on development. In developing countries, the lack of transportation infrastructures and regulatory impediments are jointly impacting economic development by conferring higher transport costs, but also delays rendering supply chain management unreliable.

A poor transport service level can negatively affect the competitiveness of regions and corporations and thus have a negative impact on the regional added value and employment. In 2007, the World Bank published its first ever report which ranked nations according to their logistics performance based on the so-called Logistics Performance Index. Investment in transport infrastructures is thus seen as a tool of regional development, particularly in developing countries and for the road sector. The standard assumption is that transportation investments tend to be more wealth producing as opposed to wealth consuming investments such as services. Still, several transportation investments can be wealth consuming if they merely provide convenience, such as parking and sidewalks, or service a market size well below any possible economic return, with for instance projects labeled "bridges to nowhere". In such a context, transport investment projects can be counterproductive by draining the resources of an economy instead creating wealth and additional opportunities. Efficient and sustainable transport markets and systems play a key role in regional development although the direction of causality between transport and wealth generation is not always clear.

In a number of regions around the world, transport markets and related transport infrastructure networks are seen as key drivers in the promotion of a more balanced and sustainable development of the region or even the entire continent, particularly by improving accessibility and the situation of weaker regions and disadvantaged social groups. There is also a tendency for transport investments to have declining marginal returns. While initial infrastructure investments tend to have a high return since they provide an entirely new range of mobility options, the more the system is developed the more likely additional investment would result in lower returns. At some point, the marginal returns can be close to zero or even negative, implying a shift of transport investments from wealth producing to wealth consuming. A common fallacy is assuming that additional transport investments will have a similar multiplying effect than the initial investments had, which can lead to capital misallocation.

The most common reasons for the declining marginal returns of transport investments are high levels of existing infrastructure, economic changes,and economies of agglomeration. High levels of existing infrastructure are in a context of high level of accessibility and transportation networks that are already extensive, further investments usually result in marginal improvements. This means that the economic impacts of transport investments tend to be significant when infrastructures were previously inexistent or deficient and marginal when an extensive network is already present. Additional investments can thus have limited impact outside convenience. Economic changes. As economies develop, the nature of their economies tends to shift from the primary (resource extraction) and secondary (manufacturing) sectors towards services. These sectors rely on different transport systems. While an economy depending on manufacturing will rely on road, rail and port infrastructures, a service economy is more oriented towards the efficiency of logistics and urban transportation. In all cases transport infrastructure are important. Economies of agglomeration. Due to clustering and agglomeration, several locations develop advantages that cannot be readily reversed through improvements in accessibility. Transportation can be a factor of concentration and dispersion depending on the context. Less accessible regions thus do not necessarily benefit from transport investments if they are embedded in a system of unequal relations.

Therefore, each development project must be considered independently.

Eight third party logistic company and their role in shipment process.

Third parties logistics firm that develop to provide value added services not provide by the basic modal carrier and facilitate shipment for shipper,consignee and carrier. There are many third parties provider exist in logistics activities. First is air freight forwarder is the third parties provider logistic services. Air freight forwarder involve air transport to delivery product to customer and focus on freight airlines. They consolidate small shipment for long haul services and eventual distribution. Generally high cost form of transportation for emergency and high time value moves. Its also offer door to door service from shipper to consignee.

Ship brokers is a person who is responsible for the transport of good by sea. They also arrange the buying and selling of ships on behalf of clients. The role of ship brokers is to act as an intermediary between the owner of a ship and the person who wishes to have their good freighted by the ship. Shipper association similar in function to freight forwarders, are actually voluntary organization composed of members with mutual commercial interest who use the service to take advantages of the economies of consolidation.these association members are usually firms shipping similar item between common origins and destinations.

Next is freight forwarders provide a major service to their customers by consolidating small shipment into larger ones for long distance movement. While providing lower line- haul rate and faster services for shippers, they retain a portion of the differential between vehicle load and less than vehicle load rates to defray the expenses of their operation and to earn a profit. Freight brokers also involves in third parties provider for a services logistics. Freight brokers function as middlemen between shipper and the carrier mush same as the real estate broker does in sale of property. Its same the freight forwarder is a long term agent and combine on focus to the firm to utilize shipment for a truck. Brokers can provides intermodal services as well as other logistic offerings such as warehousing and cross docking.

Later, is ship agents act on behalf of a liner company or tramp ship operator either owner or charter company to represent their interest in facilitating ship arrival, clearance, loading, unloading and fee payment while at a specific port. The ship agent, as enshrined by international maritime convention, is primarily the servant of the master and owners of the vessel, the “principal”. In practice however, the agent can act for any of the parties involved in the voyage and in any capacity as agreed between the agent and his principal. The others third party logistics is international freight forwarders. It is act as consolidator or earn their revenue in the manner like domestics forwarders and act as agent for shippers by applying familiarity and expertise with ocean shipping to facilitate through movement. 

    The last is intermodal marketing companies are as they provide flexible and cost-effective shipping both domestically and internationally. Most IMC companies engage in contracts with third party shippers, and provide all transportation and logistics services for the company that hires them. Often, IMC company will require a minimum number of shipments from a client, to guarantee that shipping equipment will be available. The role intermodal marketing companies do more than just transport goods from one place to another. Instead, they offer a comprehensive transportation and logistics solution by providing containers when necessary, and transportation by multiple methods, including water, air and land transport.