The global market for conditioned transport – predominantly conducted in refrigerated containers (‘reefers’) – grows rapidly. Due to the energy usage for continuous cargo cooling, the climate impact of cold logistics chains is substantial and still increasing.
In addressing climate concerns, governments have committed themselves to a ‘modal shift’ of freight transport from road to more sustainable modes such as rail transport. Concerns including road congestion and shortages in the trucking sector provide an additional impetus for a modal shift. The perishables sector, however, is almost entirely reliant on trucking. The authors address the question what is necessary for rail transportation of reefer containers to become a viable option to stakeholders in the cold chain.
This study surveys the existing options for a modal shift of perishables transport to rail. A major finding is that there is no established option yet to connect reefers to an energy supply from the catenary: most existing options rely on some form of diesel-electric generator to power the reefers. Furthermore, the authors conducted interviews with a wide range of cold chain stakeholders on their considerations regarding modal shift. Disadvantages of rail transport include the absence of a ‘plug and play’ option to power reefer containers, and the perception the current rail services do not offer the desired speed, reliability, and flexibility. While the authors also observed that new rail logistics concepts are viewed favorably, options besides trucking are simply not considered in current decision-making. Hence, a modal shift also requires a ‘mental shift’ within the sector.@en

The refrigerated (‘reefer’) container market and cold logistics chains creates opportunities as well as challenges for seaports. This high-value market grows rapidly, but places stringent demands on seaports’ logistics processes, infrastructure, and energy provision. This study addresses the question how port authorities address the challenges and in this dynamic market environment. While previous research has outlined developments in port governance paradigms and the strategic scope of port authorities, the academic literature still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the policy options available to port authorities to respond to arising challenges and opportunities. To provide this missing understanding, this study presents a new dataset of policies, implemented by world’s 50 largest container ports, addressing reefer transportation and cold chain logistics. Policy measures are classified according to content, goals and scope. The findings from this worldwide comparative analysis illustrate that port authorities often pursue policies extending far beyond their traditional ‘landlord’ responsibility. Most commonly still, the scope of port policy is limited to the port cluster, where ports (co)-invest in or aim for cluster formation around cold stores. When a port extends its strategic scope towards its foreland or hinterland, this is usually aligned with policy goals formulated at higher levels of governance, such as modal shift goals or the development of domestic post-harvest distribution systems. There is however little evidence of coherent and comprehensive cold chain strategies, addressing the logistics, marketing, technology, and sustainability dimensions. The paper outlines the general tenets such a strategy should contain as a consideration for policymakers.@en

The refrigerated (or ‘reefer’) container market grows rapidly. Researchers and sector stakeholders increasingly realize that this container market segment has its distinct dynamics and demands. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the reefer container sector, its most important characteristics and trends, and a systematic review of the academic literature on reefer containers and logistics. First the authors outline the characteristics, composition, and development of the reefer container market, showing its growth through modal shift (from conventional reefer ships and airfreight) and differentiation into new cargo markets and niche services. Secondly the authors outline reefer chains in terms of their relevant stages, stakeholders, and processes. Data on insurance claims shows that cold chain failure and cargo loss not only occur due to technical failures, but just as often due to organizational errors – especially due to hold-up risk at container transfer points. Thirdly the authors map the present knowledge on reefer containers and reefer transportation through a systematic literature review. The current body of research on reefer containers consists mostly of highly specialized, technical studies on product characteristics and quality preservation, monitoring and control, refrigeration technology, and temperature management. While technological advances in these fields have largely enabled the containerization of cold logistics chains, the first sections of this paper also highlight that many current pressing issues in reefer transportation are logistical and organizational in nature. Therefore, the authors propose a research agenda addressing these overlooked aspects, including supply chain coordination issues and implications of reefer market developments for port policy.@en

Port choice decisions are often considered to be based on unambiguous choice criteria. The authors examine how port users' evaluation of these criteria can differ and how this may affect actors' incentive structure and decision making, and ultimately port performance. Apart from ports' physical characteristics, the paper considers port policy and freight market conditions as components of actors' incentive structures. As port users interact, each actor's decision making has consequences for the incentives offered to others – with an important role for strategic behavior. The aggregate of port users' decisions affects a port's throughput, cargo composition, and value added, and has implications for handling efficiency. This paper combines these insights within an overarching framework linking port characteristics, policy, and freight market conditions to port user choice behavior and the consequences for ports. The paper explores various facets of this framework using the case of how the Port of Rotterdam competes along the Hamburg–Le Havre range, drawing on port throughput data on various levels of detail and in-depth interviews with a representative selection of port stakeholders. It shows that there is a downside to ports being particularly attractive to carriers, in that the port that offers the most incentives to carriers disproportionately attracts relatively low-value activities: inefficient calls and a large share of empty containers, along with a strong import/export imbalance. Interview findings contextualize the findings from the data and elaborate further on the mechanisms underpinning these observations. Most importantly, the attractiveness of a port for carriers does not always translate into attractiveness for shippers. The challenge for port policy is to balance the port's positioning toward its different categories of users and achieve a congruent value proposition for all port users.@en

Driven by global climate concerns, seaports have formulated sustainability goals, which also require sustainability gains in the fast growing temperature-controlled logistics market-increasing energy efficiency, reducing waste, and streamlining logistics processes. This, however, requires cooperation and buy-in from a wide range of stakeholders. To explore the barriers and facilitators of such a transition, we map the interests and attitudes of cold chain actors in the Port of Rotterdam regarding sustainability issues in reefer transportation and cold chains. We identify a limited number of broadly shared perspectives using Q-methodology-a survey-based method to study subjective viewpoints (originating from psychology) that has been used only rarely in the freight transport field. The analysis yields four 'dominant' perspectives that together account for 46% of the variation among stakeholder viewpoints. We label these perspectives "sustainability as part of strategy", "short term constraints", "optimistic about technology, limited role for policy", and "long run willingness under risk avoidance." These perspectives are characterized by multiple factors, including the evaluation of organizational capabilities, expectations from policymakers and technology, and the time horizon stakeholder organizations consider regarding sustainability concerns. From the findings, we derive recommendations for managers and policy makers to facilitate stakeholder dialogue and possibly convergence and coalition building.@en

Reefers are refrigerated containers commonly used for transporting perishable goods such as meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Nowadays, reefers are responsible for 40% of the total energy consumption of container terminals, when connected to the electricity grid on shore. Every time when a large number of reefers is plugged-in after arrival, peaks in energy consumption occur. As container terminals purchase energy using a demand-based fee, exceeding the reserved capacity during peak times increases the energy costs of the terminal significantly. So far the literature has not dealt with the root causes of peak energy consumption of reefers, or ways to reduce these peaks. The aim of this paper is to identify the root causes and to quantify their importance. We use data of energy consumption of reefers at a large container terminal, over the period of 1 year. In order to identify the importance of factors, we apply a sequential multiple regression analysis approach with backwards feature selection. Variations in energy demand are explained for 77% by the arrival pattern of containers, for about 5% by dwell time and for 2% by other factors, such as container temperature at plug-in. Promising approaches to reduce peak energy consumption of reefers includes dynamic pricing, energy management and specific peak shaving strategies.@en

Sustainable Transportation and Smart Logistics: Decision-Making Models and Solutions provides deterministic and probabilistic models for transportation logistics problem-solving and decision-making. The book presents an overview of the intersections between sustainability, transportation, and logistics, and delves into the current problems associated with the implementation of sustainable transportation and smart logistics in urban settings. It also offers models for addressing complex structural problems and procedures for estimating transportation externalities such as environmental and social impacts, both in industrial and government arenas, as well as decision-making models from operational, tactical, and strategic management perspectives. Sustainable Transportation and Smart Logistics also covers best practices for practical corporate policy implementation, making it a comprehensive and vital resource for researchers, graduate students, practitioners, and policy makers in transportation, logistics, urban planning, economics, engineering, and environmental science.

@en

The reefer container market and global cold chains present several opportunities for seaports. This high-value market grows rapidly, but also places demands on ports’ logistics processes, infrastructure, and energy provision. The current academic literature lacks a comprehensive understanding of the policy options available to port authorities to address these types of challenges and opportunities. Based on a survey of the world’s 50 largest container ports, this study presents a new dataset of policies ports implement in the area of reefer transportation and cold chain logistics. The policies are analyzed in terms of their content, goals and scope. Most commonly, the scope is limited to the port cluster, where ports often (co)-invest in or aim for cluster formation around cold stores within the port. When a port broadens its strategic scope, this is aligned with policy goals formulated at higher levels of governance, such as modal shift goals or the development of domestic postharvest distribution systems. There is little evidence that port authorities pursue policies in line with an overarching strategy, taking into account the logistics, marketing, technology, and sustainability dimensions of cold chains. The paper outlines the general tenets such a strategy should contain as a consideration for policymakers.@en

This chapter introduces the concept of sustainable development and the environmental sustainability of the freight transportation sector. The focus then turns to freight transportation terminals. Freight transportation terminals are crucial links in the supply chain. Given the growing awareness of environmental impacts and the compelling necessity to reduce costs in a highly competitive market, terminal operators are increasingly forced to pay attention to sustainable terminal design and operations. Terminals' environmental emissions are described, and the chapter presents a top-down model that facilitates tailor-made recommendations to reduce terminals' energy consumption. Various strategies on how to reduce terminals' emissions are discussed in terms of energy supply, consumption, and management. Regarding energy supply, the chapter addresses renewable energies, equipment standards, and the use of lower-carbon fuels. The energy consumption perspective includes topics such as energy-efficient buildings, recuperation, and behavioral aspects. The energy management perspective includes yard design, the establishment of terminal microgrids, and strategic decisions.

@en

This paper presents the results of both a qualitative and a quantitative study on
the possibilities for peak shaving the energy demand of ship-to-shore (STS) cranes at container terminals. The objective is to present an energy consumption model that visualizes the energy demand of STS cranes and to show the possibilities for reducing the peak demand of STS cranes by implementing rules of operation (i.e. changes to the business operational procedures). The results show that the peak demand (and peak-related costs) can be reduced by 50%, with an increase in the handling time of containerships of less than half a minute per hour handling time.
This can be achieved by reducing the maximum energy demand of all operating
STS cranes or by limiting the maximum number of simultaneously lifting STS
cranes. If (one of) these rules of operation is implemented, an intermediate container terminal with six to eight STS cranes can save up to €250,000 per year, which is about 48% of total peak-related energy costs.@en

The increase in population, high standards of living and rapid urbanization has led to an increasing demand for food across the globe. The global trade has made it possible to meet this demand by enabling transport of different food products from one part of the world to another. In this trade, refrigerated containers (reefers) play an important role, due to their ability to maintain the quality of product throughout the journey. However, the transportation and operation of reefers requires a constant supply of power throughout the supply chain. This results in a significant energy consumption by reefers. When large numbers of reefers are involved, this results in high amount of energy consumption at terminals as well. From a terminal perspective, the monthly throughput of reefers shows a lot of variation due to the seasonality of food products. As a result, the growth of reefer trade, the seasonality of food trade and the special requirements of reefers has led to an increase in the peak power demand at terminals. Because utility companies apply extra charges for the highest observed peak demand, it is beneficial for terminals to keep this demand as low as possible to reduce energy costs. There is no prior research on peak energy consumption caused by reefers at a terminal To investigate the opportunities for container terminals to reduce their peak demand, an energy consumption simulation model is developed. With the model two energy reduction strategies are tested to analyze their impact on peak demand: intermitted distribution of power among reefer racks and restriction of peak power consumption among operating reefers. Both strategies show significant opportunities for cost reductions.@en

De toename van de bevolking, hoge levensstandaard en snelle verstedelijking heeft geleid tot een toenemende vraag naar voedsel over de hele wereld. De wereldhandel heeft het mogelijk gemaakt deze vraag te vervullen door het vervoer van verschillende voedingsproducten van het ene deel van de wereld naar het andere toe te laten. In deze handel spelen gekoelde containers (reefers) een belangrijke rol wegens hun vermogen om de kwaliteit van het product tijdens de reis te handhaven. Het transport en de exploitatie van reefers vereisen echter een constante energievoorziening in de hele logistieke keten. Als er grote hoeveelheden reefers betrokken zijn, resulteert dit in een groot energieverbruik bij terminals. Vanuit het terminal perspectief blijkt de maandelijkse doorvoer van reefers veel variatie te hebben Deze variatie is het gevolg van de groei van de reefermarkt, de seizoen gebondenheid van de levensmiddelenhandel en de speciale eisen van reefers en leidt tot een toename van de piekvermogensvraag bij terminals. Omdat de nutsbedrijven extra kosten toepassen op de hoogst waargenomen piekvraag, is het gunstig voor terminals om deze vraag zo laag mogelijk te houden om de energiekosten te verminderen.
Om de kansen voor containerterminals te onderzoeken om hun piekvraag te verminderen, is een simulatiemodel voor energieverbruik ontwikkeld. Met het model worden twee energiereductie-strategieën getest om hun impact op de piekvraag te analyseren: gedeelde spreiding van de energie over de reeferracks en het beperken van piekvermogen door instelling van maximale limiet. Beide strategieën tonen mogelijkheden voor interessante kostenbesparingen zonder daarbij de temperaturen binnen de reefers te schaden. Ondanks reële besparingsmogelijkheden is het wel noodzakelijk dat de huidige businessmodellen op de schop gaan, want momenteel zijn er vanuit financieel oogpunt geen incentives om dit te veranderen omdat men reeds winst maakt op de energielevering aan de reefers en deze doorbelast naar de uiteindelijke klant.
@en

Reflecting the dynamic relationships between socio-technical behaviour and change, this book presents leading research on the transition process needed to achieve more sustainable transport systems. Focusing on making transition happen, this volume looks at various aspects and factors that are involved in the transition process and their implications for transport policy-making. The concept of Transition Management and how it can be applied to the transport sector is considered in detail, and forms the focus of the first part of the volume. The rest of the book is organised according to the three themes of transport energy use and emissions, the role of information in policy-making, and the evaluation of transport policy. This volume brings together scholars involved in research from various disciplines and countries to discuss the relationships between policy instruments, individual behaviour, institutional practices and the transition towards more sustainable transport systems.

@en

This chapter explores the ways in which uncertainty arises as a recurrent feature of the policy life-cycle. It discusses the state of the knowledge and identifies research needs in each of these areas. Acknowledging these real world conditions destabilizes the usual means by which we model, interpret, and portray the move from scientific understanding to policy construction. The chapter describes the different intersections that focus on the analyses of the local design and implementation of climate change policies. It argues that the subnational initiatives, like California's AB 32 and SB 375, provide an unrivaled opportunity to significantly improve our understanding of how uncertainty is identified and managed in local governance and community responses to legislatively directed changes. It also argues that uncertainty is inherently embedded in the communication and interaction between science and the policy process, between levels of government and between local implemented and their communities.@en

The research question was: "How can innovations make deep-sea ports more sustainable?" If we focus on innovations that might reduce environmental problems, we can make two observations:, it is especially those innovations that do not aim to improve a particular (part of) the port services that are able to reduce environmental problems, the remaining innovations can also reduce environmental problems, but only to a relatively limited extent. Innovations that could be successfully introduced on markets are: innovations that reduce the emissions from ships, transhipment equipment, and hinterland transport. From the point of view of product characteristics, user requirements, and innovation system, these innovations have the best performance and the most support from the actors involved.

@en