transportation management

A Current Transport Challenge Faced by the Shanghai
Transportation Community
Abstract
Logistics is becoming one of the most potential industries in the world. Transportation is the key point in the whole process of the logistics. In this essay, I will enumerate Shanghai as an example; to analyses the existing the service and facilities problems and try to give some solutions that I think it is better to solve the problems. At the same time, the influential on the overall logistics industry will also be presented.
Introduction
Shanghai, as one of the most influential cities in the world, is trying to build itself into an international transportation center. According to the report(2010)，Shanghai is the 5th place in the report of competitiveness index international center. It is a trend that Shanghai will be the center of the world transportation. In 2009, although the depression and HINI crashed the world, cargo throughput of Shanghai port still reached 590 million tons; the container throughput reached 25000000 TEUs, and Pudong Airport cargo is up to 2.541 million tons, respectively, to maintain the first, second and third in the rankings. However, the gap between Shanghai port and the leading international shipping center can not be ignored. It may be caused by the poor quality of the service and facilities. Shanghai in the formulation of new rules due the lack of influence and voice, there is lots of work for Shanghai to do.
The issues we face currently
Shanghai is one of China’s most influential cities. Extremely densely populated, with very high traffic volume, the transportation in Shanghai is an important issue for the local authorities. Shanghai is in the rapid urbanization and motorization development stage, its service and facilities should get great process, however, now it is far from the target. (2001) As a result, the pressure of transportation happens more frequently.
As Shanghai is going to be an international logistics center, transportation is a vital part in this process. Logistics cannot be apart from transportation. Good transportation condition does well to the development of logistics.
Here I figure out some problems:
First of all, there are too much idle stations. According to the research of Xu Jinli (2008), there are 60 cargo terminals which have only less than 10 million tons goods every year, accounted for 25% of the total number of operating stations. The goods are relatively dispersed, so that it is common for the rail carries to stop frequently which not only increase the cost, but also weaken the competitive in the market, compared to other carries. This will make the vehicle scheduling more difficult, the process will become complicated. In contrary, American railroad system adopted the centralized transportation. It closed many stations which their capacity of transportation was below 9000 tons and their lengths were shorter than 1.6 kilometers. And the government ruled that railroad cannot take the order which its transportation was less than 350 kilometers. Such movements make the railroad transportation apart from the motor. It ensured the economies of scale. Too much idle stations will have a bad effect on the total process of the logistics. It will do harm to the time utility of the transportation. (2009) Furthermore, it will also make the cost rise beyond expectation, even companies will lose some customers.
Secondly, the transportation in Shanghai lacks hi-tech equipments. From the eyes of American professors, (2006) the level of information technology in Shanghai is low. Once the containers are checked to railway, the consignors cannot know their movements at the first time. What’s more, the standard of efficiency in railroad transportation still is ‘week’, compared to ‘day’ in the developed countries. The total operation makes customers sad. And to water transportation, although the Yangshan deep-water port putting into use relieves parts of the pressure, the difficulties are still there. The departments among the port lack some essential intelligent equipment.
Some regard EDI as port intelligent, such misunderstanding makes the process hard to take a further step. Next, the warehouses and distributions are far from the demands, which influence the schedule and efficiency of the intermodel, this model may be used in the transportation planning field to reduce the travel time and its cost. Lacking necessary hi-tech equipments lead to less competitive for the transportation in Shanghai, so that the speed will slow down, and its unnecessary cost will occur, the total process of the logistics will influence a lot.
Thirdly, the security of the transportation is also an important issue. In Shanghai or China, there is no definite rule to limit the time of the motor drivers; it is one of the biggest hidden dangers. Every year, there are lots of drivers have accidents because of fatigue driving. In contrary U.S.A. rules that a driver must have a 10-hour-rest after he drives for 10 hours, he will go to a terminal, and another driver will take over his work. And to the air transportation, since the goods which transport by air are usually very expensive, how to ensure the security is a tough task. Recently, in Hongqiao air cargo terminal, several staff stolen the computer memories, although the policemen finally caught the thieves, it left a bad effect on security of the cargo terminal. Security is vital to the transportation because it is related to whether you finish the transportation, and it will effect your reputation. Whether the customers satisfied is mainly based on the security.
Last but not least, the management of the transportation is disorder. In Yangshan deep-water port, the inspection units such as customs, inspection and quarantine are leaded by central ministries, but the port construction, maintenance, security, etc. are belong to the local government, such dispersion of the power decreases the efficiency of the management, and rises the cost. In Shanghai, although the hardware facilities are improving, the relative rules are not introduced (2009). And Xu Jinli (2008) pointed out there were too much staff in the railroad institution which leads to too much cost, and the low efficiency of the operation. Such management style will discourage the customers to choose the railroad to transport their goods. So the
foreign customers will choose other port instead of Yangshan deep-water port. To the railroad, the customers will change the transportation company, and the out of date management of the transportation discourage the development of the logistics. What’s more, to the motor transportation, some small companies cooperate with each other, but this action makes the market more complicated, some goods can not find the receivers, which leads to a great loss.
The solutions to reduce the adverse effects
Since there are too much idle stations in Shanghai, we can also adopt the centralized transportation. First of all, we should study further about the overall arrangement and basic operation condition. We must arrange some regular railroad which the station has large amount of goods to carry. At the same time, we can make a vivid plan to layout the potential sites. Secondly, the department should reform the regional rail and strengthen its capacity. For example, U.S.A. launched 3R Act in 1970s (1980), which attempted to maintain all freight service in the Northeast by creating the Consolidated Rail Corporation. (2009) This movement can not only regular the rail management, but also increase the profit since the cost of the railroad transportation decreases when the distance is longer. Furthermore, cooperating with the motor transportation is another way to solve the problem. Those goods which are small amount and short distance can be transported by motor. Such division increases the benefits to both, meanwhile; it will decrease the competitive between the railroad and motor transportations.
And to the Yangshan deep-water port, it is common that ‘individual firms that handle such commodities as grain, coal, and oil commonly build docks, terminals, and commodity-handling facilities to meet their unique needs’.(2009) The water transportation can learn from the movements. Since the high speed rail has been introduced into Shanghai, we can fully use it to meet the growing demand. We should also update the information technology. On the other hand, we must update the concept about the railroad transportation. We should give up the old ones; use the new
concept, so that we can catch up the pace with the developed countries. Firstly, we must adopt a newly standard efficiency which uses ‘day’. Secondly, optimizing the equipment specifications and practices, try to catch up the pace with the ISO. Thirdly, setting up more international network, it can not only make the customers convenient, but also strengthen the communication between Shanghai and its neighbors, such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and etc.
Next, how to ensure the security is a vital problem to the transportation. Throughout the five kinds of transportation, air travel is the safest way to travel. As Edward (2009) figured out the trend of aircraft accidents from 1992 through 2002. The spike in 2001 was caused by the incident in New York City on September 11. However, the figure shows that the fatal accident rates decrease from 0.053 to 0. Since the goods transport by air are usually very expensive, the security is very important then. I suggest that the warehouse can use suitable monitors and reinforce the management. The managers can select some staff with high quality. What’s more, the government should make rules that drivers can not drive longer than 10 hours, and it is forbidden that the goods are overweight, such bad behavior not only do harm to the drivers and motor themselves but also is bad for the road infrastructure. So it is important to make rules to make such dangerous behavior under control.
Last, we should make the management condition orderly. This movement can help the transportation in Shanghai take a big step. To the Yangshan deep-water port, the management institution should cooperate with each other better and further, this is also an opportunity for the institution to reform itself, so that the staff can get a better understanding of the work division, and they can put more emphasis on the service. Such reform can improve the image of the Yangshan deep-water port; meanwhile, it can transfer itself into a service department, much close to the foreign trend. And to the railroad transportation, we can cut off the useless staff, make the management more efficiently and effectively. Also, we must speed up the pace of the opening. This will help the railroad transportation to reform to learn the new technology and
management style. Thus the railroad transportation will benefit a lot; this will also do well to the other transportation, such as efficient railroad system help the development of the highway transportation. To the motor transportation, the process of improving the management is even more complicated, since there are too much small-sized third-party logistics, the condition is disordered. I suggest that they can set up an organization, like freight conference. However, I do not recommend that the organization is set up by the government because the government may not fully understand the need and demand in the market. But, they can promulgate some rules to regulate the market. Over viewing the motor transportation, the most of the profit in Shanghai belong to UPS, FedEx, and other international logistic companies. It is important for them to take actions.
Conclusion
This essay analyses the condition of transportation in Shanghai, it is very clear that it exists a big gap between the transportation in Shanghai and the leading cities through comparing the 4 kinds of transportation. These kinds of transportation have some problems. So I suggest some solutions to relieve the problems. I hope it will work; Shanghai will become a transportation center with the first-class hardware and software facilities.
Reference
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