Developing Freight Fluidity Performance Measures: Supply Chain Perspective on Freight System Performance. Summary of a Workshop. Transportation Research Circular, Number E-C187.

摘要

The freight transportation system is key to the global competitiveness of the United States. While the performance of the freight system is invisible to most Americans, it is a major concern to businesses, manufacturers, shippers, carriers, and network managers. The multimodal freight transportation system is managed and operated by a variety of public and private entities that monitor and measure system performance in different ways. TRB, in collaboration with the FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations, hosted a workshop to examine freight fluidity as a measure of overall supply chain performance and to explore its use in managing and improving the performance of the freight system. The Developing Freight Fluidity Performance Measures: Supply Chain Perspective on Freight System Performance Workshop was held May 21–22, 2014, at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, D.C. The workshop brought together public agency personnel and private-sector supply chain managers to share information on monitoring and measuring different elements of the freight transportation system. The opportunities and challenges involved in expanding the use of the freight fluidity concept were discussed by participants. The workshop included general sessions and breakout sessions. The first general session focused on private-sector perspectives on measuring supply chain performance. The Canadian experience with developing and using freight system fluidity measures was featured in the second general session. Speakers in the third session presented examples of applying freight fluidity in the United States. Breakout sessions provided participants with the opportunity to discuss stakeholders and users, scalability, performance measures, data characteristics, and research needs to help advance the development and use of freight fluidity.