The paper was presented at the Polish Logistics Congress “Logistics 2006 – Best Practices in Logistics”. Poznań, May 10-12, 2006.
Introduction
In the assessment of logistics infrastructure, there are various opinions regarding the effectiveness of implementing programs for building logistics centers and the advisability of continuing them. According to some, the past two decades were a favorable period for their implementation plans, and the advisability of building logistics centers was justified by the state of logistics infrastructure at that time. Similar conclusions can be reached when analyzing the results of the German logistics center construction program, which show that 34 logistics centers built over the past ten years have been filled with enterprises to only about fifty percent of their capacity.
From the point of view of the advisability of creating an integrated European logistics network and the needs of enterprises both commissioning and performing logistics services, this problem looks different. Logistics centers should be treated as intermodal nodes that, by establishing permanent, regular rail connections between container terminals, link local networks into a unified logistics network. Its reach is determined by the tasks of logistics operators and their ability to carry out transport from the point of view of available transport technologies and cost-effectiveness. Intermodal logistics centers with public access to services provided on their premises must be equipped with technologies for transshipment, warehousing, information exchange, etc., open to various service recipients, and therefore unified enough not to create barriers to the flow of goods and information. From this point of view, logistics centers should be perceived as nodes of logistics networks, which are characterized by the highest organizational, technical, and functional standards among other possible nodes, and if this is not yet the case, such a postulate should accompany their further construction and development.
Vocabulary used in the article
Logistics superstructure – buildings and structures in which logistics operations related to warehousing, transshipment, and distribution of goods are carried out.
Logistics center – a spatial object with specific functionality, along with infrastructure and organization, in which logistics services related to receiving, warehousing, distribution, and issuing of goods are carried out, as well as accompanying services provided by business entities independent of the sender or recipient.
Intermodal transport – the movement of goods in one and the same loading unit or road vehicle, using two or more modes of transport in succession without transshipment of the goods themselves when changing modes of transport.
Combined transport – intermodal transport where the major part of the European journey is by rail, inland waterways, or sea, and any initial and/or final leg carried out by road is as short as possible.
Container terminal – a designated area equipped with open structures along with appropriate infrastructure depending on the function performed, adapted for transshipment, handling, and storage of containers.
Logistics network – a group of independent enterprises competing and cooperating to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the flow of products and goods and accompanying information in accordance with customer expectations.
Logistics network – a logistics superstructure interconnected via transport infrastructure and independent enterprises using it with the help of organizational, technical, and information solutions, competing and cooperating to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the flow of physical goods and accompanying information in accordance with customer expectations.
Logistics center as a structural element of the logistics network
A logistics center is the most advanced form of a logistics network node. A logistics network rich in linear and point infrastructure, offering various possibilities for flexible supply chain configuration, is an essential element of the functioning of economic networks. Limitations of the logistics network in terms of the availability of rail infrastructure and infrastructure used for transshipment are, alongside cost and time competitiveness factors, one of the key factors determining the dominant share of road transport in freight transport. The dominance of road freight transport is observed in all European countries, yet many of them have been taking actions for years to curb the growth of freight transport carried out by this mode of transport – especially in long-distance transport, systematically supporting the functioning of intermodal transport. One of the instruments of this policy is supporting the construction of intermodal transshipment terminals (container terminals) and logistics centers by creating legal and financial foundations for their construction using public funds and the active participation of public sector institutions in activities initiating the creation of intermodal logistics centers. An analysis of national logistics networks in Europe leads to the following conclusion: if the public sector does not show initiative and does not engage in the construction of container terminals and logistics centers, there is little chance that they could be created in any other way.