Currently, the trade volume between China and the European Union is experiencing rapid growth. However, there are many bottlenecks in the operation of the China Railway Express, such as imbalance in inbound and outbound transported containers in the Sino–European direction and a low profit margin. More than fifty-three rail routes in China provide rail transportation to European cities and have small traffic volumes. However, such a dramatic situation affects transportation costs, which are three times higher compared with maritime transportation, causing uncertainty related to the demand of Chinese customers. This study analyzes the shortcomings of previous research studies related to multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) models applied in the field of logistics and transportation. The study proposes a novel approach to determine the optimal locations of the CR Express international logistics centers. The proposed approach involves the application of a MCDM model using the DEMATEL-MAIRCA method. This technique finds the closest solution to the ideal one by identifying the value of the best alternative in line with the observed criterion, and by measuring the distances of other alternatives according to the observed criterion of the ideal value. Finally, we show the similarity of the proposed methodology to other MCMD methods, which is one of the key topics of the Symmetry Journal, to prove the validity of the applied DEMATEL-MAIRCA method. Preliminary results show that in view of increased container turnover between China and the European Union, the determination of optimal locations for CR Express international logistics centers should be carried out dynamically.

Nowadays, the reduction of the harmful effect on the environment is one of the essential state-level and international challenges. The solution of this problem lies in a worldwide use of concepts and principles of sustainable development, but also in transport and logistics performance by principles and methods of green logistics. The first part of the paper presents the review of the most authoritative studies in the field of sustainable development and green logistics. The second part of the article reflects the original approach to achieving the goals of sustainable development in the operation of logistics and transport systems based on the harmonisation of economic purposes and principles of logistics with principles of sustainable development that are reached through the systematisation of reviewed methods and instruments of logistics.

The continuous increase of trade between China and Europe brought congestion problems at major Chinese seaports. An effective way to solve this issue is to set up intermodal terminals often called dry ports. However, the dynamics of various influenced factors on dry port’s implementation calls for the adaptive and flexible planning of the terminal. This paper analyzes the shortcomings of previous research related to the dry port’s implementation from the perspective of the applied numerous parameters concerning evaluating its operational efficiency and sustainability. The operational efficiency and sustainability of a dry port are evaluated by the developed system of the main parameters. This system gives the understanding of how these parameters are interrelated between each other and fills the gap in studies of inverse interrelations between main parameters of a dry port. To fully understand the sustainability of the main parameters of a dry port, this paper puts forward the simulation models description of the developed system. The developed model is a practical tool to evaluate the reliability of hypotheses about the functional interrelations between the main parameters of the dry port, as well as to evaluate the sustainability of the system. Finally, in order to develop functional interrelations between main parameters, the data from several Chinese dry ports has been collected. Finally, the developed multi-agent system dynamics model has been validated in the case study of Yiwu dry port located in Zhejiang, China.

The authors analyzed the navigation along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and developed the pathfinding algorithm for its strategic assessment. It creates a framework connecting weather observations with shipping operational parameters: travel speed, travel time, travel distance, the necessity of icebreaker escort. It is based on the A* algorithm, the Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System (AIRSS) methodology, and empirical relationships between ship’s speed and environmental data. The idea is to minimize travel time since sailing through areas with severe weather conditions requires speed reduction. The objective function finds the fastest safe path with minimal icebreaker escort. We used 2019–2020 environmental data to test the algorithm and analyzed daily optimal NSR transit routes for Eastbound and Westbound directions. It was shown that environmental parameters significantly affect the vessel’s path, while ice parameters make the largest contribution. Depending on the ship’s ice class and sailing season, it takes between 11 and 38 days to complete the entire route. All obtained operational parameters are valuable for assessing transportation costs, profitability, and riskiness of NSR. We provide their seasonal, monthly, and weekly values, and statistical parameters.

Алгоритм прогнозирования моментов времени прибытия городских пассажирских автобусов на основе Марковских цепей

In this paper, an eco-efficiency analysis is conducted using the epsilon-based measure data envelopment analysis (EBM-DEA) model for Russian cities along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The EBM-DEA model includes five input variables: population, capital, public investment, water supply, and energy supply and four output variables: gross regional product (GRP), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, solid waste, and water pollution. The pattern of eco-efficiency of 28 Russian cities along the NSR is empirically analyzed based on the associated real data across the years from 2010 to 2019. The empirical results obtained from the analysis show that St. Petersburg, Provideniya, Nadym, N. Urengoy, and Noyabrsk are eco-efficient throughout the 10 years. The results also indicate that the cities along the central section of the NSR are generally more eco-efficient than those along other sections, and the cities with higher level of GRPs per capita have relatively higher eco-efficiency with a few exceptions. The study provides deeper insights into the causes of disparity in eco-efficiency, and gives further implications on eco-efficiency improvement strategies. The contributions of this study lie in the fact that new variables are taken into account and new modeling techniques are employed for the assessment of the eco-efficiency of the Russian cities.