A Study on the Intercontinental Transportation Competitiveness Enhancement Plan between Northeast Asia and Europe Using the Trans-Siberian Railway

Abstract

Abstract-According to the extension and growth of the Northeast Asian economic bloc, the transfer of logistics between Northeast Asian countries and European countries has enlarged and the major countries of Northeast Asia have played a central role in the Northeast Asia economic bloc as logistics hubs. Currently, due to an increase in international freight volume, international shipping and air freight continues to increase. Due to lack of infrastructure and increase of transportation costs however, Northeast Asia's logistics competitiveness has weakened. It is therefore necessary to develop more efficient and reliable international transportation network. By analyzing the current status of major transportation paths between Northeast Asia and Europe currently in operation and their technical characteristics, this paper suggests an improvement plan for more efficient transportation and a transportation competitiveness enhancement plan, to solve realistic problems such as economic transportation technology and uncertainty of demand, and enhance the possibility of transportation costs and time savings. However, a result of comparative analysis of marine transportation and transcontinental railway shows that transcontinental railway competitiveness has decreased sharply. To enhance this, it necessary to invest and build mutual cooperation between countries, form a global network and create a mutual compensation system for an international transportation complex.

A global model for the estimation of transport costs

“…It has been shown that the greatest reduction in transport costs is obtained by improving rail infrastructure (in line with the recommendation of Song & Na, 2012). A 10% improvement in its quality could contribute to reducing transport costs by 14.1% on average.…”

“…Generally speaking, logistics costs represent a critical element of companies' financial position and cost structure (Stepien, Legowik-Swiacik, Skibinska, & Turek, 2016;Toyli, 2008). Therefore, if companies were able to systematically reduce these costs, it could represent a decisive step towards maintaining and even bettering their competitive position (Chow & Gill, 2011;Smith, Miller & Parhizkar, 2008;Song & Na, 2012;Zamora & Pedraza, 2013). Further support for this claim is provided in the report Global Supply Chains, Transport and Competitiveness, from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (Pesut, 2009).…”

Multimodal transportation via TSR for effective Northern logistics

“…Despite the shorter transportation distance and time spent associated with TSR compared with conventional sea transport, there exist several obstacles that prevent the full advancement of TSR and Northern logistics market (Tsuji, 2002;Yun and Kwon, 2004;Song and Na, 2012;.…”

Is Trans-Korean Railway Solely a Symbol of Peace in the Korean Peninsula?

“…The domestic freight movement pattern of ROK is highly damaging on environment perspectives. The local pollution that the freight trucks in ROK has been reported to consume 2.6 times more energy per ton and emits 10 times more air pollutants per ton-km than the diesel rail trains [33]. As the production sites are located around Seoul/Kkyonggi regions and the major consumption happens at the Port of Busan, at least 3 million TEU is transported on Kyungbu Highway annually.…”