Logistics and Transport

In a global market, logistics is one of the key factors that determine a company’s competitiveness. The GII’s research into transport and logistics seeks to improve the efficiency of logistics processes, reducing costs from both the economical and environmental point of view. Within this line, two main areas of the group´s work are included: improving how logistics centres and terminals operate as well as modelling and optimising freight transport.

Fundamental to this line of research is the development of freight transport models for infrastructure planning, feasibility, service fare simulation and route optimisation. The GII has mainly focused on the problem of multimodal transport, especially for road-sea options. However, it has also carried out rail and river transport projects. One of these was the preliminary studies related to Central Bi-Oceanic Railway Corridor of South America. The models that have been developed make it possible to assess achievable goods capture with transport services based on price, travel time and frequency of service. The GII has a GIS software license for TransCad transport planning, which has been the basis for these models.

Within this line, one of the group’s key areas of study concerns sea routes. Consequently the group has models developed in JAVA for determining how ship design parameters influence load capture and service profitability. Thanks to this tool, ship design can be optimised and service characteristics defined throughout the entire life cycle. In particular, these models have been applied to the study of short sea shipping services, such as the ones proposed between Vigo-Saint Nazaire, along the Gijón-St.Nazaire corridor and on the North Sea.

On the other hand, the GII has also been applying M & S modelling and simulation technologies in logistic systems at port and rail terminals, as well as storage facilities. These models serve as a tool for designing efficient management rules and maximising productivity in handling equipment and other resources.

Finally, the GII has a self-developed JAVA library with algorithms for optimising delivery /collection routes that makes it possible to minimise the number of necessary routes and distances covered.

Related Projects

• SIMFAIL: Simulating complex fault models for onboard systems
• CFBC - Central Bi-Oceanic Railway Corridor
• GLOBALOG: enhancing the competitiveness of the Spanish business environment
• Integrated management system for container terminals
• Managing, planning for and optimising transport routes in dynamic environments
• Dictamen Pericial Ferrovial
• PROLOGOI: Pre-commercial logistics simulation tool development project
• System for optimising discharge from two ecological hoppers
• GreenCOOP