Accessibility criteria for inbound and outbound logistics facilities
The measure of facility accessibility in the Szczecin region for a given transport direction is the travel time from the LDC to the boundary of the transport hub area. The measure of accessibility for the entire inbound and outbound logistics facility is the average travel time to the boundaries of the transport hub. The best facility accessibility in the Szczecin region will characterize the location variant for which the average travel time to the boundaries of the hub area is the shortest. This time should be calculated as a weighted average of travel times to boundary points located on all main outbound directions. The weighting factors for individual directions correspond to the estimated load of outbound roads with transport to and from the LDC.
Considering the road network, there are seven main directions of departure from the Szczecin hub area. A boundary point of the Szczecin hub has been designated on each of the outbound roads. The estimated load of individual outbound roads with inbound and outbound transport from the LDC is shown in Table 2. The given values were calculated based on the quotient of the number of business entities located in a given transport direction to the total number of entities in the region.
Of fundamental importance for studying the accessibility of facilities within the Szczecin hub is the location of industrial concentration zones and the course of the hub’s main communication routes. Taking into account the current situation and development plans of the city of Szczecin, the following assumptions can be made:
– business entities that are potential LDC clients are dispersed with equal density throughout the hub area
– the limited number of road connections within the hub means that the travel route from the LDC to the client is significantly longer compared to the straight-line distance.
The above assumptions eliminate the use of geometric methods when studying the accessibility criterion for this facility. The measure of facility accessibility within the Szczecin hub is the average travel time to the boundaries of the transport hub. This time should be calculated as the arithmetic mean of travel times to boundary points located on the seven main outbound directions. The best facility accessibility within the Szczecin hub will characterize the location variant for which the average travel time to the boundaries of the transport hub area is the shortest.
Studying the accessibility of ports in Szczecin and Świnoujście comes down to comparing the quality of rail connections between the LDC – Szczecin port and LDC – Świnoujście port for individual location variants. The most important measure of this quality is the average travel time on these routes. Rail transport is taken into account as the primary mode of transport serving Polish ports. The average travel time should be calculated as a weighted average, and the weighting factors should correspond to the percentage share of individual ports in the cargo turnover gravitating towards the LDC. Estimated calculations showed that in 2010, 2/3 of this type of cargo was handled by the Szczecin port. The best port accessibility will be provided by the location variant for which the average travel time to both ports is the shortest.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” no. 3/2003.