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Our paper proposes the machine learning Random Forest algorithm for classifying economic activity within the European Union, building on the relevance of a reduced set of variables alongside location and industry of origin for the differences in performance between foreign versus locally-owned companies. We find a diverse landscape of business performance within the European Union that does not indicate a clear-cut dominance of foreign-owned companies against their locally-owned peers. Locally-owned companies from the Eastern European Union have been more dynamic than their foreign-owned peers in the region, which suggests a process of learning from foreign competitors and business partners. The Random Forests model performs surprisingly well given the low number of predictors and indicates that personnel costs per employee is the most important variable that discriminates between foreign and locally-owned companies. The importance of the rest of the variables, including the regional location and the industry, has a relatively uniform distribution.

The port shunting yards are developed inside the area of the ports. The main activities are to receive the freight trains from the hinterland, to shunt the freight wagons according to their final destinations from the area of the port, to receive the wagons from maritime terminals, to accumulate wagons according to their destination, and to depart the freight train to the hinterland. So, it is important for port administration to have good methods to evaluate the transit capacity of port shunting yards. A feasible method is to use the discrete simulation model. In our paper, we develop one of this taking into consideration the input flow characteristics of freight trains from land network, the input flow characteristics of freight wagons from maritime terminals, the number of tracks in a port railway station, the technology used for separation of freight wagons on destinations (inside the port or from hinterland), and the duration of technological processes. From the results, we extract the values of trains and wagon sets that transit through the main areas of the railway station (Receiving Tracks, Hump(s) and Departure Tracks).

The recent emergence of bad events (fires, terrorist attacks, etc.) resulted in a large number of deceased and injured people, brought to the attention of specialist’s problems and caused by the lack of adequate dimensioning of access and transit path. In the case of urban transport terminals linking rail lines, metro lines, and surface public transport lines there are a number of specific aspects such as the transport means arrival after a fixed schedule, group acces within the terminal, long waiting time in the terminal etc. In this case the use of a discrete simulation model allows the evaluation of the use of access gates, transit times, etc. In this paper, a simulation model is developed for a hypotetical passenger terminal using the topology of the main Romanian train station. The obtained data can be used for the optimal dimensioning of the number of access gates, of the stairs, of the waiting area etc.

The urban transport models are used in the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. These models are designed to reproduce the actual traffic flow on transport network infrastructure and to test and evaluate the solutions that will lead to a sustainable mobility. One of these solutions is represented by the development of park and ride facilities, for users that are coming from extra urban area. The authors propose in the paper an algorithm for traffic allocation when are developed park and ride facilities. The initial data are obtained from a classic four steps model and are processed to evaluate the degree of demand of transport network when a multi-stage phased scenario is pursued. The results obtained with the proposed method are useful for local and regional decision makers to conceive a strategy to develop new park and ride facilities as well as to obtain a series of quantifiable results for transport network users.

This paper investigates the efficiency of different models in shaping the transfer function of port container terminals by coordinating the handling equipment’s activity. Differences in the productivity of the handling equipment and the limited capacity of the storage area at berth generate deadlock situation that could be handle through three correlation procedures: (i) adjusting the productivity to the minimum when the storage area is fully used; (ii) on/off control of the most efficient equipment, and (iii) limitation of the productivity of the most performing equipment. These techniques and the variations in input elements (ships arrival rate, containers number to unload/load, berth storage area) are taken into account for choosing the best strategy of port activity. A simulation model, developed with ARENA software, is created to analyse the port activity. Beyond the analytical models that deal with one ship handling process, the simulation model could take into consideration the process on a period of time, allowing studying the impact of stochastic elements on the process. The model contains the following modules: the vessels arrival, waiting in harbour, anchorage, containers unloading/loading on the vessels, temporary storage at berth, container transfer to inland storage area, and vessel departure. Computer simulations allow analysing random variable of the vessels time spent in port. The mean value should be kept at minimum and thus the best handling strategy could be identified. In addition, the sensitivity of the results according to the variation of the input elements is obtained.

Summary. This paper provides an overview on the ACROSSEE project (funded by the ERDF under the SEE program), its objectives, general methodology, and the main results. Moreover, the main survey results are presented as they relate to the Romanian road and rail border-crossing points (BCPs) with the Eastern neighbourly country, Moldavia. Results include the actual status of the road BCP, surveys on exiting and entering traffic flows, answers to specific questionnaires of the truck and car drivers in relation with origin-destination of the trips, average waiting time in queue and time required for procedures and controls. Discussion on the mathematical modelling is presented and a provisional simulation model is developed, using ARENA software. The early results are used in order to introduce the need for future assessment of the transit time in a road BCP, with the main purpose: the substantiation of the strategic and operational actions for improvements in trade and transport crossings of the EU borders, considering the need for more vigilant and less time-consuming checks at the outside borders of the EU.

Warehousing enables the consolidation of shipments to clients by assembling full truck loads from goods stored in warehouse or distribution center. Storage can be efficiently replenished by ordering full truck loads from suppliers. In order to reduce freight storage and handling costs from distribution centers, cross-docking technique represents a logistic solution which is more and more used. Thus, the optimization of simultaneous unloading/loading operations constitutes an important issue for the distribution center owner/administrator. This paper presents a model based on genetic algorithms optimization techniques for solving the problem of unloading/loading ramps allocation. The efficiency of a cross-docking center is conditioned practically by finding an allocation and an optimal arrangement of ramps. This implies the allocation of destinations to unloading/loading ramps of distribution centers to minimize the total distance performed by the the cargo handling equipment. The case study presents a cross-docking platform with single handling equipment which is assigned to 10 unloading/loading ramps. By applying the solution of the ramp allocation generated through simulation, the total distance performed by the handling equipment is reduced which means lower handling cost for the distribution center owner/administrator.

The automotive industry faces future important changes through adoption of several new complex technologies like” X-by-wire” systems for vehicle dynamic control and high focus on green technology, fuel efficiency hybrids and electric vehicles. The implications of these technologies require in-depth understanding of the vehicle behavior during lifetime cycle, in order to reach a maximum optimized design. Therefore this paper introduces an analysis of a long-term capture data collection from a fleet of serial production vehicles in normal everyday use, as a solution to the lack of information available to describe the vehicle dynamics and load over the systems in a sufficient way. The analysis brings knowledge-based information, where before was difficult to answer and where statements were mainly based on subjective explanation. Results reveals important information describing load cycles during vehicle lifetime for different control events with focus on the braking events.

The growth of containerization and transporting goods in containers has generated capacity and equipment allocation problems in maritime ports. Container terminals represent complex systems with dynamic interactions between the various handling, transportation and storage units, and uncertainties about future events. Maritime container terminal operates at full capacity if the arrival of vessels to berth is uniform according to its capacity and equipment operating at constant parameters. Since there are random factors both on the arrival of ships and on the operation of equipments, the paper analyzes the influence of these factors on the terminal capacity. Therefore, we proposed a generic simulation model structure for the comparative assessment of the measures of performance of maritime terminal in ideal conditions (without perturbations in the terminal operation) and in different statistical assumptions of vessels inflows to berth and number of containers to unload per vessel. Based on event driven and virtual reality technology, the handling technology simulation model is developed using ARENA simulation software. The model is set-up by combining three basic functions: transport, transfer, and stacking. The transport activity is assumed by the flows of the container vessels and trucks. Different characteristics of the arrival flows are assumed (intervals between transport units, number of containers to unload). Quay cranes provide the container transfer. The stacking areas consist in one capacity area on the quay for the quick transfer on trucks. The simulation results lead to the conclusion that it can be achieved berth high occupancy and minimization of vessels waiting time at the port if the vessels inflows follow a distribution with small variance around the ideal value.

This paper presents the authors’ vision about the planning foundation for the new residential areas from the large cities outskirts, in a sustainable development framework. One considers the great generation potential of the high and very high income population in case of the used products with remained reuse value, or new and undesired products, available in the residential places. We propose a space allocation model with a hexagonal hierarchical structure for the centralized return centers in a reverse logistics. The space allocation model for the recovery centers implementation takes into consideration: the recovery habits, environmental care and sustainable development education, “moral” compensations, centralized recovery centers facilities, walking willingness of the average inhabitant of the considered area, decision makings involvement at the local Public Authority level, and local community. One reveals the importance of the data collecting stage for the potential and availability of the exhausted products (having reuse value) in a specific area with high and very high income population

The identification and the assessment of the risks faced by logistic chains involving the transport of containerized dangerous goods with a maritime component, have a special attention from the specialists in the field because of the share of the containerized transport in the maritime transport.

Terminals constitute the factual interface between different modes and, as a result, buffer stocks are unavoidable whenever transport flows with different discontinuities meet. This is the reason why assessing materials handling and storage capacities is an important issue in the course of attempting to increase operative planning of logistic processes in terminals. Proposed paper starts with a brief review of the compatibilities between different sorts of materials and corresponding transport modes and after, a literature overview of the studies related to ports terminals and their specialization is made. As a methodology, discrete event simulation stands as a feasible technique for assessing handling and storage capacities at the terminal, taking into consideration the multi-flows interaction and the non-uniform arrivals of vessels and inland vehicles. In this context, a simulation model, that integrates the activities of an inland water terminal and describes the essential interactions between the subsystems which influence the terminal capacity, is developed. Different scenarios are simulated for diverse sorts of materials, leading to bottlenecks identification, performance indicators such as average storage occupancy rate, average dwell or transit times estimations, and their evolution is analysed in order to improve the transfer operations in the logistic process

The quality of service in transport terminals is differently perceived by engineers, economists, transport operators and sociologists. The traveler's perception is nevertheless decisive. The quality of service is well connected with the inside design of terminals, with the facilities in terminals and with the provided service standards. In order to provide a high level of service, the activities taking place in the public transport terminal and the maximum travelers flow size must be carefully analyzed and dimensioned. The purpose of modelling is to find the best route for each traveler from origin (entrance) to destination (exit) through all the intermediate service points, taking into consideration the instant network conditions. In developing the model we consider the walking, the waiting and the serving time. Using a simulation program written in ARENA we determine the waiting time. For validation, the model is used to evaluate the performance level in Bucharest Basarab station. By comparing the total walking distance for the possible routes and the utility function that describes the utility of all activities from entrance to exit we can find the optimal route.

Currently, no methodology is widely accepted by engineers, planners, or bicycle coordinators that allow them to determine how compatible a roadway is in providing efficient operation of both bicycles and motor vehicles. Previous studies reported a number of approaches to obtain an appropriate level of service; some authors developed the bicycle level of service (BLOS) and other authors developed the bicycle compatibility indexes (BCI). The level of service (BLOS) for a bicycle route represents an evaluation of safety and commodity perceived by a bicyclist reported to the motorized traffic, while running on the road surface. The bicycle compatibility index (BCI) is used by bicycle coordinators, transportation planners, traffic engineers to evaluate the capability of specific roadways to accommodate both motorists and bicyclists and to plan for and design roadways that are bicycle compatible. After applying BCI and BLOS models for the designed bicycle infrastructure network in the city of Dej, one can see that only few streets are Moderately Low compatible compared to the others with a high degree of compatibility that recommends to include them in the bicycle infrastructure network.

Sea ports are important nodes in the supply chain, joining two high capacity transport modes: rail and maritime transport. The huge cargo flows transiting port requires high capacity construction and installation such as berths, large capacity cranes, respectively shunting yards. However, the port shunting yards specificity raises several problems such as: limited access since these are terminus stations for rail network, the in-output of large transit flows of cargo relatively to the scarcity of the departure/arrival of a ship, as well as limited land availability for implementing solutions to serve these flows. It is necessary to identify technological solutions that lead to an answer to these problems. The paper proposed a simulation model developed with ARENA computer simulation software suitable for shunting yards which serve sea ports with access to the rail network. Are investigates the principal aspects of shunting yards and adequate measures to increase their transit capacity. The operation capacity for shunting yards sub-system is assessed taking in consideration the required operating standards and the measure of performance (e.g. waiting time for freight wagons, number of railway line in station, storage area, etc.) of the railway station are computed. The conclusion and results, drawn from simulation, help transports and logistics specialists to test the proposals for improving the port management.

The paper presents an optimisation method for selective waste collection services in university campuses in Bucharest. Based on geographic information system (GIS) procedures and algorithms, an optimisation method for selective waste collection services is developed. The area of Bucharest City, the road network, the location of the selective waste collection points in the main university campuses and the location of the collection station are organized in GIS format. Complex geodatabase structures that allow solving the large scale selective waste collection problem are designed. The routing solution that minimises the total travel time is determined taking into consideration the local road network properties and the location of the collection station for each category of waste (glass, paper and plastic). The methodology is applied for the main University Campuses in Bucharest. The map with the routing solution, the required number of vehicles and the schedule for each category of waste and for each vehicle are obtained. The developed method provides informational and technological support for public authorities and selective waste collection operators.

This paper presents an optimization model for scheduling work on urban street infrastructures. Using real traffic data from Bucharest, the paper analyzes the exceeding of users’ costs as the difference between the users' total costs on a simplified network without works and the users' total costs in cases of various strategies of work completion. Due to the significant amount of users' costs, these costs have to be considered beside the construction costs in selecting the best scheduling strategy. The constructor's costs are presented in three situations: (1) the route, including several streets, is totally closed, there is a sole constructor working on the entire route and the streets are opened to traffic simultaneously; (2) the route is executed subsequently, each street being opened to traffic as the works on it are finished; and (3) all works start simultaneously, each street having its own construction site and the streets are opened to traffic as the works are finished. The total social cost, as a sum of users' additional costs and constructor's costs for the three strategies, represents the objective function for the optimal works scheduling on urban street infrastructure.

An intermediate hub might increase the accessibility level of ports but also hinterland and so it can be considered more than a facility with a transhipment role. These hubs might lead to the development of other transport services and enhance their role in gathering and covering economic centres within hinterlands and also getting the part of logistic facility for the ports, with effects on port utilization and its connectivity to global economy. A new location for a hub terminal leads to reduced transport distances within hinterland, with decreased transport costs and external effects, so with gains in people's life quality. Because the production and distribution systems are relatively fixed on short and medium term and the location decisions are strategic and on long term, the logistic chains activities location models have to consider the uncertainties regarding the possible future situations. In most models, production costs are considered equal, the location problem reducing itself to a problem that aims to minimize the total transport costs, meaning the transport problem. The main objective of the paper is to locate a hub terminal that links the producers of cereals that are going to be exported by naval transportation with the Romanian fluvial-maritime ports (Galaţi, Braila). GIS environment can be used to integrate and analyse a great amount of data and has the ability of using functions as location - allocation models necessary both to private and public sector, being able to determine the optimal location for services like factories, warehouses, logistic platforms and other public services.

The Romanian capital market is still an emergent one. Following the mass- privatization process and the private investments, three of the most important handling and storage companies acting in Constantza Port (OIL Terminal, Comvex and SOCEP) are listed on Romanian Stock Exchange. The paper investigates their evolution on the market, identifying the expected rate of return and the components of the shares risk (specific and systematic). Also, the price evolution could be analyzed through the informational efficiency which instantly reflects the price relevance. The Jarque-Bera normality test regarding the shares return rate distribution and the Fama test for the informational efficiency are completed for each company. The market price model is taken into consideration for price forecasting, computing the return rate auto-correlations. The results are subject of interpretation considering additional managerial and financial information of the companies' activity.

The concepts of reliability and vulnerability are quite important in assessing the ability of transport networks from land to provide continuity in operation tacking in consideration the relation with seaports. Transport infrastructure modernizing and extension according to land use and sustainable development requirements still represents a challenging issue among policy makers, regional/local communities and scientists. The interest for the researches reliability and vulnerability for transport networks who connect maritime ports with interior city's is generate by the natural disasters, the terrorist acts, unconventional war, etc.. Transport network modelling enable the development of mathematical models used in evaluating the reliability and vulnerability. Nodes or link disruption could have an important impact over transport network users. In our paper we investigates the Romanian road network vulnerability related to Danube crossing versus maritime ports (Constanta and Mangalia) and its mitigation by improving network topology. We use Visum software to promote a methodology to assess road transport network vulnerability versus Romanian seaports and we propose some solutions to reduce probability of road transport network to fail.

Sustainable development is a necessity, solutions for satisfying users’ needs having to be adopted in relation to criteria that often integrate divergent interests of those involved. The optimal location of production centers has the best effect on production costs. The paper focuses on industrial location from the user's point of view, taking into account elements like maximum distance for efficient road transportation, resources proximity and available infrastructure. The developed model has a large scale of applicability in economic sectors like: distribution, automotive industry, constructions. Results of applying this model proved its utility and necessity of further researches on location problems.

Nowadays sustainability is among the most desired characteristics of the transport systems. Taking into account the soaring and the unpredictable rise of the transport needs in urban areas, in contrast with the suggestions for reducing individual travels, new solutions which should integrate the transport resources both of urban and suburban areas must be sought. The idea of organizing freight distribution chains through hub-and-spokes network can also be adapted for passengers transport. The infrastructure for individual transport, whenever motorised or non-motorised modes, in the proximity of large cities should also be developed to serve other high capacity transport networks, accomplishing all the traveller’s needs within the sustainability framework. The technical, administrative or financial integration of peri-urban transport modes with urban public transport is a key element. The current paper highlights the particularities of such an approach and presents a case study for reorganizing the urban and peri-urban connections in Bucharest city.

The maritime container terminal allows the transfer of container flows from maritime vessels to the land transport network and vice versa. The transit capacity through the terminal is affected by the handling capacity of the equipment at the terminal, by the size of the storage areas and least by the technologies used in handling and storing the containers in the terminal. In this paper, the influence of these last two technologies on the duration of the process of unloading/loading of sea vessels within the terminal is analyzed. A discrete simulation model is used to evaluate the sizing method for short-term storage area located on the dock. The manner of allocating the flows of containers on it, as well as the working technology of the handling equipment, have an influence on the number of containers taken over, respectively loaded on the maritime vessels. The simulation model topology is developed following the existing physical structure of a container terminal from Constanta Port, in Romania. The obtained results can help the administration of the container terminal in optimizing the activity of handling, storing, and transferring the flows of containers from the maritime environment to the mainland and vice versa.

In this paper we discuss several consequences of the freight transnational rail liner service on the rail corridor capacity. The Northern part of the IVth TEN-T corridor on Romanian territory has specific feature related to the passenger flows connecting important Romanian demographic and economic clusters, on one side, and on the other side, to its diagonal crossing aspect, from the Western border to the Constanta port, connecting the Central Europe countries to the Black Sea regions, which means that there are a lot of expectation in terms of this corridor rail capacity: this corridor will, be for a long time further, the single and first completed continuous upgraded and modernised rail corridor. Its utilization will necessarily be heterogeneously planned (meaning for passengers rapid trains and freight rapid trains, from domestic/internal market, but especially for external market of Romania). In this paper, we consider a simple mathematical model for the calculus of capacity in two different cases: for a homogeneous utilization, meaning that all trains have the same running speeds and for heterogeneous utilization, when the passenger trains have the higher speed and hence, the higher priority over the freight trains, even if some of them are freight transnational liner service. Special feature of liner rail service has to be considered (fixed schedule, no stops for passenger train advance). We draw several useful possible solutions to be considered in order to preserve the active corridor capacity, and to assure a smooth flow for the transnational liner services, which ultimately will enhance the rail attractiveness.