Logistical Challenges for a Coal Transporting Company - Case Study Example

Logistical Challenges for A Coal Transporting Company Name: Institution Name: Tutor’s name: Date of Submission: Executive Summary When materials are being transported from the source to the point of sale or exportation, there are a number of requirements that have to be met by the transporting company (Wilson, 2008). This paper presents a report on the rules and requirements that have to be met by the transporting company during transportation of coal from the source to the final destination. The report includes all requirements that have to be met by the transporting company in terms of the weight of the wagons and information relating to the wagons that results into adequate information regarding the transportation process. It also includes an analysis of inland and sea freight details, activities at the ports as well as Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS) requirements that have to be met. Some of the information that are included into the requirements include information regarding the packaged goods such as shipping marks, container number and customs entry number if any. In addition, it include quarantine measures such as examination requirements, observation and how the transportation process can be conducted to ensure plants, animals and human beings are not harmed. Furthermore, the items to be transported have to be properly documented during transportation process. This paper presents a number of information regarding the goods to be transported that must be included in the items information. This report is important for transporting companies because it gives them a guide on methods they can use to ensure transportation logistics requirements are met while the transportation process is made successful. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Discussion of logistics requirements to be met 5 2.1.Logistical Challenges in transporting the locomotives and wagons 5 2.2.Inland and sea freight details and Packaging information that will have to be provided 6 2.3.Port Activities 7 2.4.Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS) that will have to be complied with 7 Conclusions 9 References 10 Appendix 11 Introduction This report presents the logistical and management efforts that have to be made by an Australian mining company in transporting thermal coal from Alpha in Western Queensland to Abbot Point port on Northeast Queensland. The distance between the two cities is 500 km and the main form of transport involved in transporting the materials is rail. During transportation process, it will be necessary to ensure that the company complies with a number of logistical requirements from Australian Quarantine and Inspection (AQIS) as well as ensuring items information in regarding the goods being transported are provided. This is because in any country, there are logistical and transportation regulations that have to be met by any transporting company (Quiroga, 2011). In addition, it will be necessary to ensure personal information regarding transporters and the people involved in transportation process are documented. These regulations are applied in most countries in most parts of the world and it is necessary to ensure the company involved in the transportation of coal from Alpha in Western Queensland to Abbot point Port in Northern Queensland complies with these regulations (Oxford Business Group, 2012). By complying with these regulations, there are number of advantages that the company can benefit from. For instance, it will be easy to track the activities of the company to ensure it does not engage in illegal activity. It will also ensure the transporting company doe s not carry loads that are beyond the safety levels. The other benefit that the company can derive from understanding the logistical requirements is that it will ensure its activities do not result into harm to plants, animals and biodiversity of the transport areas. Discussion of logistics requirements to be met 2.1. Logistical Challenges in transporting the locomotives and wagons The transporting company involved in transporting the wagons and locomotives will experience a number of logistical and challenges during the process of transporting these goods. For instance, it will be necessary to ensure the weights of the wagons are not too great to be transported safely by the trains. It will also be necessary to ensure bulk purchase is optimized by executing rail supply chain for coal products (Krumm and Kharas, 2004). It will be necessary to come up with a system for management of wagons used by the railroads such as incorporation of train and railcar management, revenue settlement and car hire accounting. The transporting company will be faced with the challenge of finding a method of managing rail operations, process inventory and controlling transportation. It will also be necessary to come up with a method of managing bulk products by coming up with production planning methods, status determination methods and fulfillment rates that are managed through an integrated platform. Another challenge is that it will be necessary for the transporting company to enable freight customers optimize logistics that are bound to outside location through maximization of fuel expense and reducing the overall operating costs. Thus, in order to solve this, the transporting company will have to invest in fast-moving trains that will require automated real-time train planning (Ghose and Dhar, 2000). Other challenges include the need to expand rail capacity by minimizing train operator variation, the need to ensure signaling complexity is minimized so that probability of collision is minimized. 2.2. Inland and sea freight details and Packaging information that will have to be provided There are a number of inland and sea freight details that the company will have to provide during the transportation process. For instance, it will be necessary to ensure that the port of the final destination of the goods is documented; the number of bill of lading and master airway bill is signed (Evangelista, 2012). It will be necessary to ensure that the numbers of packages of goods are documented and the types of packages are also signed. The transporters will also have to identify any shipping marks on the wagons and record them; they will also ensure container number is identified when the coal is loaded into containers. It will also be necessary to ensure customs and entry point number s obtained and documented for future reference (Cárcamo-díaz and Goddard, 2007). During the transportation process, it will be necessary to ensure the name and address of the owner of goods is identified, the name and address of the importing company and the name of the transporting company of the goods. In addition, the country of origin of the goods will be documented, the departure time from the source of the goods and the expected arrival time at the final destination should be estimated (Bretzke and Barkawi, 2013). In addition the vessels used to transport the goods to the final destination should be determined and the port where vessel installation arrives in Australia will be identified. There is also a number of information relating to the data that will have to be documented. For instance, it will be important to ensure the goods are described with the inclusion of material from which the goods are made. The port of lodgment of the customs import entry will also be indicated (Botin, 2009). The companies involved in the brokerage will also be indicated in the importation and exportation process. During the brokerage process, the reference number of the brokerage companies will be documented. A summary of freight requirements are provided in the table in the appendix. 2.3. Port Activities There are a number of activities that will take place at the moment the wagons are availed at the port until they are loaded onto the ships. It will be necessary for the transporting company and the management at the port to ensure that all the activities are carried out in their order of precedence to ensure the exportation process is successful. Once the wagons arrive at the port, they will be offloaded from the trains and weighed (Wilson, 2008). The data regarding the wagons such as wagon number and weight will be obtained. The coal will then be transferred into containers and details regarding the containers labeled. These include the number of each container and the destination of the container. The containers containing the coal will then be loaded into the waiting vessels (Sadler, 2007). The management of the ports will inspect the containers to ensure they are not overloaded and the vessel can travel through the sea safely without any possibility of overloading. The exporter and the importer will sign documents of transaction involved in the exchange of coal and currency. Copies of these documents will be left with the ports management authority. Following these activities, the vessel will be able to leave the port to the final destination of transporting the coal. 2.4. Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS) that will have to be complied with The main purpose of AQIS is to reduce risks to the agricultural regions of a country and the environments against pests and diseases. It also issues imports and exports permits and conducts passenger clearance, quarantine inspections and maintenance of plant and animal quarantine facilities, development of public and educational awareness and inspecting premises that administer quarantine conditions (Quiroga, 2011). AQIS requires that all importing and exporting companies must obtain permits for importation or exportation of a wide range of products such as mineral based fertilizers, animals and macro-organisms or cereals and grains. Consequently, it will be necessary for this company to obtain a permit for exporting coal from the source and transporting it to the shore for exportation (Krumm and Kharas, 2004). According to the regulations of Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS), quarantine can be done in a number of ways to ensure the process of transportations safe and does not result into harm to human beings and equipment. There are a number of activities that need to be done to ensure goods and people are safe. They include examination of transportation equipment before commencement of transport process, exclusion of people from dangerous goods that could cause harm to them and treatment of vessels to ensure harmful materials do not reach people within the transport vessels such as trains and vehicles (Ghose and Dhar, 2000). It also recommends that quarantine should be done by observing if there is any danger and finding a solution to it, isolation, protection, installation and protection of plants and animals. Another requirement of this law is that research should be conducted on the impact that the mining activity can have on the ecosystem and prosperity. Thus, before commencing the transportation business, the transporting company will have to conduct a research on the impact that the transportation process can have on environment (Evangelista, 2012). This assist in coming up with measures of preventing any harm that can emerge. The AQIS also requires that the transporting company needs to register with it having accomplished a number of requirements. For instance, it is required that the transporting company must provide extensive information regarding their concern for the ecology before they are allowed to register. For instance, the company must provide a report of export procedures that will be followed, how they intend to deal with spillage and methods they intend to use to deal with storage and waste disposal or keeping database of transport operations. Conclusions This paper shows that transportation is a sector of economy that requires high level of attention by governments of a country. This is because all the mining products from the source of the minerals to the port are made successful when there is adequate means of transporting the minerals from the source to the port. However, this paper shows that there are a number of logistical requirements that have to be met by any transporting company in order to achieve its transport objectives while complying with government regulation. Furthermore, coal is an important mineral of any country in terms of its use as a source of fuel for combustion. This results into reduced dependence on other sources of energy such as oil. However, its production requires total concern by the people involved in its production and transportation. For instance, during its transportation, the transporters have to ensure its transportation does not result into negative impact on plants and animals. In order to ensure that these requirements are met, transporting companies are advised to comply with the AQIS requirements during commencement of transportation activities. In addition, other logistical requirements should also be followed to ensure there is no violation of government regulations. This paper can be useful for any transporting company involved in transportation of coal from the source of mining to the port. It provides a list of requirements that the transporting company must fulfill in order to consider its transport activities legal. It also provides a guide on regulations of AQIS. This provides additional exposure to requirements that transporting companies must meet when engaging in transport businesses. References Botin, JA 2009, Sustainable Management of Mining Operations, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Littleton, Colo. Bretzke, WR & Barkawi, K 2013, Sustainable Logistics Responses to a Global Challenge, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg. Cárcamo-díaz, R & Goddard, JG 2007, Coordination of Public Expenditure in Transport Infrastructure: Analysis and Policy Perspectives for Latin America, Santiago, Chile, United Nations / CEPAL. Evangelista, P 2012, Supply Chain Innovation for Competing in Highly Dynamic Markets: Challenges and Solutions, Business Science Reference, Hershey, PA. Ghose, AK & Dhar, BB 2000, Mining, Challenges of the 21st Century, A.P.H. Pub. Corp, New Delhi. Krumm, K & Kharas, H 2004, East Asia Integrates a Trade Policy Agenda for Shared Growth. Murphy, PR & Wood, D 2011, Contemporary Logistics, International Edition (10th edn), Prentice Hall PTR, NY. Oxford Business Group 2012, The report, Mongolia 2012. [London], Oxford Business Group. Quiroga, CA 2011, Guidance for Developing a Freight Transportation Data Architecture, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. Sadler, I 2007, Logistics and Supply Chain Integration, Los Angeles, SAGE. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com/id/10256792. Washington, World Bank. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=515770. Wilson, MJ 2008, The Intrepid: Earth's Moment of Awareness, Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, IN. Appendix Form to be filled upon Arrival of the wagons at the port Name of Exporter Wagon Number Wagon Label Source of the wagon Final Destination Maximum allowable Weight of Container Customs entry Number Time of Departure Expected arrival time Port Where the vessel should arrive Description of the goods Read More