Research: Transport
- The transport group has a strong international reputation in freight and logistics research. It has considerable expertise in:
- City Logistics
- Modelling Freight Systems
- e-Logistics
- Environmental Management Systems
- Performance Based Standards
- Container Management Systems
The transport research group currently has 3 staff. Refer to the group's national competitive and industry grants and research publications.
City Logistics
New integrated freight systems for enhancing the mobility, liveability and sustainability of cities are being designed. The group is developing a suite of improved methods for evaluating city logistics schemes for minimising the harmful effects of trucks in urban areas.
The group is developing a range of intelligent decision support systems for the freight and logistics industry. Procedures for optimising vehicle fleets and terminal location are being constructed. Meta-heuristics, software agents and simulation models are being constructed. Applications include multi-modal and dynamic networks at a national, regional and local scale.
The group is developing a range of internet based management systems for tracking and tracing the movement of goods within the supply chain. These tools can be used to assess the fulfilment of transport systems. A Contract Performance Monitoring System that can be used by users of transport services is currently being developed.
Environmental Management Systems
The group is developing practical rating procedures and processes for the enhancing the environmental performance of the Road Freight Industry. Procedures for linking the various accreditation programs and environmental transport operator schemes to facilitate the adoption of Environmental Management Systems are being developed.
Current initiatives are being reviewed and this project will propose an accreditation scheme that is practical for transport operators and suites regulators. The viability of developing an on-line registration, education and training scheme for operators that is consistent with the current industry and regulatory standards is being investigated.
Performance Based Standards
The group is actively investigating the potential of a more flexible approach to vehicle dimension limits for rigid trucks operating in urban areas. Concept vehicles are being designed under the current performance based standards framework. Models are being used to determine the performance characteristics of new rigid trucks with increased load capacity. Improvements in productivity are also being estimated.
Container Management Systems
Agent based software techniques are being used to develop a container management system to increase the efficiency of the transporting of freight containers in urban areas. A dynamic allocation system will be used to match containers and vehicles to reduce the amount of empty running and increase the utilisation of shipping containers. The system will investigate the benefits of automated location technology (eg. RFID and GPS) in monitoring the movement of vehicles and containers.