LSCM 4560 Exam II
This legislative act partially deregulated rail carriers
Staggers act of 1980
Domestic water carriers are most commonly classified by the waterway used. The classifications include:
- Coastal - Inland - Great Lakes
Executives at JB Hunt, a truckload motor carrier, made the statement that We are not a trucker anymore. Which of the following best support this statement?
- Intermodal accounts for over half of JB Hunt's revenue - JB Hunt now has over 34,000 containers - Truckload sales are less than 25%of JB Hunt's total revenue
Intermodal transportation provides several benefits including:
- Reduced travel times - Elimination of transportation chokepoints - Lower transportation costs - Reducing road congestion
Pipelines move what proportion of the intercity ton-miles in the U.S.?
19%
Rail intermodal volumes set a record in which year?
2015
Rail carriers move approximately what percent of the total ton-miles in the US?
33%
What percent of intercity ton-miles are moved by railroads?
33%
What proportion of the intercity ton-miles in the U.S. is moved by motor carriers?
39%
Containers come in a variety of different lengths and provide different capabilities. Which of the containers lengths is used primarily for domestic shipments ?
53'
Domestic water carriers move approximately what percent of the intercity ton-miles?
7%
The air passenger carriers' financial performance is closely linked to their load factor. What passenger load factor do the airlines currently need to achieve to break even?
80%
An intermodal marketing company (IMC) can be best described as:
A transportation intermediary that specializes in the handling and of intermodal shipment for shippers and contracts with carriers to conduct the movement.
An intermodal chassis refers to
A truck trailer (frame) specially designed to transport containers
What is the difference between a tug boat and a tow boat?
A tug boat moves in open water, while a tow boat moves in shallow water.
Motor carriers have the greatest advantage in which of the following service and operating characteristics?
Accessibility
The operating and service characteristic posing the greatest disadvantage for air carriers is:
Accessibility
A key issue confronting water carriers is:
Aging infrastructure, locks and dams that require maintenance and modernization
Which of the following moves the greatest proportion of air freight in the United States?
Air express (integrated)
The major elements of air cargo include:
Air mail, air freight, scheduled and air express
The DFW metroplex boasts having multiple intermodal hubs and two major inland ports. These inland ports are located in:
Alliance (north Fort Worth) and south Dallas
How has the creation of Amtrak promoted US freight railroads?
Amtrak assumed responsibility for passenger service allow the railroads to shed their unprofitable passenger business
What is the difference between a TL carrier and LTL carrier?
An LTL carrier's equipment is moving SEVERAL shippers' freight at the same time in less than truckload quantities. A TL carrier's equipment is typically moving freight for only one shipper at a time.
Safety is of great importance to the air carrier industry due to:
Any incident involving aircraft receives significant media attention due to the large number of people affected.
The largest single market for air cargo is
Asia-Pacific
The largest intermodal carrier in North America is:
BNSF
The largest railroad in North America, based on operating revenue, is the
BNSF
Domestic water carriers operating over the principle US rivers-Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Columbia, and Hudson-are likely to use which of the following equipment?
Barges
Public aid is given the water carriers in the form of waterway construction, development and maintenance. How do the water carriers repay the government for the aid received?
By paying user charges in the form of lock fees and fuel taxes
Railroads possess an inherent advantage in which of the following service characteristics?
Capability
What is the inherent advantage of railroads?
Capability
The Supreme Court decided that pipelines are required to operate as common carriers if a shipper of oil demands their services. This is know as the:
Champlin Oil Case
This element of air cargo is the smallest in the US market:
Charter
Which commodity represents the largest proportion of tonnage moved by railroads?
Coal
Which of the following bulk commodities accounts for the largest proportion of ton-miles moved by rail?
Coal
Due to the Champlin Oil Case ruling by the Supreme Court, most oil pipelines in the U.S. operate as:
Common carriers
Due to their operating and service characteristics, we would expect domestic water carriers to:
Compete with pipelines and rail carriers for the transport of petroleum products
The less-than-truckload segment of the motor carrier industry can be characterized as
Concentrated in a small number of national and large regional carriers.
The ocean shipping lines have demonstrated a clear trend in the size of containerships being deployed and under construction. The current trend is to
Construct larger and larger ships to take advantage of economies of scale
This type of service is a subset of piggyback service and similar to TOFC, but deals with shipping containers.
Container-on-flatcar (COFC)
Moving a container involves a set of cost and time intensive activities. The most time intensive activity involves:
Containership travel
Domestic intermodal differs from international intermodal due to:
Domestic intermodal using larger containers such as 48 and 53 foot and international intermodal mostly using 20 or 40 foot containers
The intermodal market can be divided several different ways. One common approach is to distinguish between international and domestic. What is the difference between international and domestic intermodal?
Domestic movements originate and terminate in the U.S. while international movements originate in another country and terminate in the U.S.
Current forms of public promotion for pipelines primarily consist of:
Eminent domain
Several factors affected the evolution of intermodal transportation. The deregulation of transportation:
Enabled intermodal to expand by offering integrated services and a single bill of lading
Since 1980, the tonnage moved by pipelines:
Experience a slight decrease as competition from water carriers reduced the total volume moved by pipelines
The largest air cargo carrier in the world (domestic and international) is:
FedEx
The largest air carrier based on freight revenue in the world is:
FedEx
The largest LTL carrier in the U.S. is?
FedEx Freight
The operating ratio is a measure of:
Financial stability (operating costs ÷ operating revenues)
A furniture retailer in the DFW market has scheduled deliveries for Denton on Mondays, Plano on Tuesdays, Grapevine on Wednesdays, and other cities on the other days of the week. This retailer is applying which of the following principles?
Form tight clusters by day
This heuristic is frequently used by logistics and transportation managers as a means to determine how transportation costs will vary by combining shipments or by increasing the number of shipments during a time period. In most instances, the carrier offers a lower rate for larger shipments so they can fill their vehicles. This heuristic attempts to take advantage of this situation.
Freight consolidation heuristic
When indexed on 1980 levels, the volume of intercity ton-miles transported by motor carriers has:
Grown faster than any other mode except air cargo
The growth in intermodal traffic since 1980 can be largely attributed to:
Growth in global trade
Since deregulation in 1980, air carriers:
Have experienced the fastest rate of growth in ton-miles moved of any transportation mode.
A class I railroads is defined as:
Having revenue exceeding $457 million
What is the cost structure of the rail industry?
High fixed costs due to the cost of maintaining their right of way (infrastructure)
The cost structure for railroads can generally be characterized as:
High fixed, low variable
The text authors identified driver turnover as a major issue confronting the motor carrier industry. Why does driver turnover pose an issue?
High turnover rates in the industry have greatly increased the costs of trucking companies for driver recruitment and retention and could affect safety performance.
The cost structure for water carriers can be characterized as
High variable and low fixed due to fuel and labor
The cost structure of the motor carrier industry can be best described as:
High variable costs
The cost structure for domestic water carriers can be best described as:
High variable costs. They do not maintain their infrastructure, with labor and fuel being their largest expenses.
Motor carriers compete effectively with rail carriers
In distances under 500 miles
As compared to the other modes of transportation, air cargo has:
Increased at the fastest rate, in relative terms, since 1980
The trend in the amount of intercity ton-miles moved by motor carriers has:
Increased due to growth in the economy and demand for home delivery.
The average tons of freight per trainload has:
Increased due to increased locomotive power, longer trains, and larger capacity per railcar
Domestic water transportation consists of three major categories. They include:
Inland, coastal, and great lakes
Intramodal competition between air carriers can be described as:
Intense
The level of intramodal competition between motor carriers can be characterized as:
Intense
The textbook author describes intermodal competition for air freight as:
Intense as carriers compete head-to-head to transport freight and use contracts with motor carriers in order to compete with UPS and FedEx.
Water carrier's intramodal competition is characterized by:
Intense competition within each segment of the domestic water carrier industry
Competition for air cargo service can be best characterized as:
Intense intramodal competition due to deregulation of rates and number of carriers/flights
Competition between carriers for air cargo can be best described as:
Intense. Deregulation opened the doors for air carriers to compete based on price.
Competition within the motor carrier industry can be characterized as:
Intense. The large number of carriers, especially in the truckload (TL) segment, has created a marketplace resembling pure competition.
The intramodal competitive situation for railroads can be characterized as:
Intense—railroads compete directly with motor and water carriers
The most serious threat to the pipeline industry is from which form of competition?
Intermodal
What is the largest source of income for railroads?
Intermodal
What type of freight accounts for the largest proportion of the rail industry's revenues?
Intermodal
The commodity, or type of freight, accounting for the largest proportion of total tonnage moved by Great Lakes carriers is:
Iron ore
What is the largest intermodal marketing company in the U.S.?
J.B. Hunt
The largest single cost for the railroad is:
Labor
Which component of a carrier's cost structure represents the largest proportion (greatest percent) of the average cost per mile?
Labor
Which of the following represents the single largest cost element for air carriers:
Labor
Hours of service (HOS) regulations:
Limit drivers to fourteen consecutive hours of on-duty time per day
How do the textbook authors characterize intramodal competition between domestic water carriers?
Limited due to the relatively small number of water carriers
The ability to achieve economies of scale is extremely important to transportation. The on-line text author suggest the ability of motor carriers to achieve economies of scale is:
Limited due to the size constraints imposed by government regulations
Intramodal competition between pipeline carriers can be characterized as:
Limited. Competition is negligible since a relatively low number of pipeline companies exist.
A lighter aboard ship (LASH) is used to transport:
Loaded barges from one port to another
Intra-modal competition within the pipeline industry can be characterized as:
Low
The individual credited with launching the intermodal revolution in transportation was:
Malcolm McLean
Who is credited with the development of containterization and a systematic approach to handling intermodal shipments?
Malcolm McLean
Water to rail would be which type of land bridge?
Micro bridge
Railroads have an operating ratio in the range of:
Mid 60s to low 70s
Pipelines have an operating ratio of:
Mid 70s
Air carriers have an operating ratio in the range of:
Mid 80s to mid 90's
What is the operating ratio for air carriers?
Mid to high 90s High variable (labor & fuel), low fixed
The intermodal movement of a container from the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach to an intermodal facility in Houston represents what type of land bridge?
Mini-Bridge
Economic regulation of water carriers can be best characterized as:
Minimal since most water carriers haul exempt cargo or are privately owned.
Minimum tender refers to:
Minimum shipment size
The online text identifies three dimensions of modal competition. These dimensions include:
Modal usage, infrastructure usage, and market area
Which of the following is not a service characteristic of pipelines:
Moderate Speed
This type of pipeline moves gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from refineries to market areas:
Product trunk lines
Private carriers typically experience lower turn-over rates than their for-hire counterparts. Which of the following contributes to private carriers having lower turn-over rates?
More stable routes and dependable schedules
The number of interstate truckload (TL) carriers operating in the U.S. numbers:
More than 400,000 carriers
Despite their speed, domestic air cargo carriers confront intermodal competition. Their primary intermodal competitors include:
Motor carriers
Railroads confront more intermodal competition than any other mode. Their primary intermodal competitors include:
Motor, water, and pipeline carriers
A retailer requires that suppliers shipping to its distribution center must have the shipments arrive within a 15-minute window. Although this practice benefits the retailer, the shipper will violate which of the following routing principles?
Narrow stop time restrictions should be avoided
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline moves crude oil from the North slope to ports on the Pacific Ocean. Crude oil movements occurring through the pipeline would be regulated by: Surface Transportation Board, Federal Maritime Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or Interstate Commerce Commission.
None of the above
The passenger load factor measures:
Number of passengers compared to total number of seats
The market structure for less than truckload motor carriers can be characterized as:
Oligopoly
Since deregulation, the trend in US air cargo volumes has been:
On an upward trajectory as FedEx and UPS were allowed to expand, and growth has been further fueled by internet sales.
Which of the following performance measures is a key measure of motor carrier operating efficiency?
Operating ratio
Following graduation, you accepted a director of logistics operations position. The position has responsibility for managing a small private fleet. While developing a pick-up and delivery route for several trucks serving a region, you notice that one of the delivery points is located considerably distant from the other pick-up and delivery points which are closely clustered together. Based on this observation, you should decide to:
Outsource this point to a third party carrier that serves points near that customer
Most combination carrier revenues come from:
Passenger travel
Almost 50 percent of the air freight in the United States moves as belly cargo on combination carriers. This situation has a significant effect on the growth in the air cargo industry because:
Passengers and freight often do not follow the same path, and combination carriers cannot satisfy some freight demand
The amount of track operated by Class I carriers has
Peaked in 1916 and has declined steadily through the present
Domestic water carriers have a competitive advantage in large, bulk movements. Which commodity accounts for the largest proportion of tonnage moved by domestic water carriers?
Petroleum and petroleum products
This type of terminal is the most common in a less-than-truckload (LTL) system. These terminals enable LTL carriers to operate a hub-and-spoke system similar to airlines:
Pickup and delivery
Which of the following owns the greatest percentage of rolling stock in use?
Private car leasing firms and shippers
This type of pipeline is used to move petroleum from refineries to distribution tank farms.
Product
Which of the following is the best reason that air carriers have a relatively low fixed cost structure?
Public investment in airways and airports
Pipelines primarily confront intermodal competition for long-distance movements from:
Rail and water
Your task is to determine the most appropriate vehicle routing model based on a specific scenario. The scenario provided to you requires the routing of multiple vehicles constrained by a maximum weight limit based on the models covered in this section, the most appropriate model would be:
Ray sweep
What the is market structure of railroads?
Regional monopolies
In this type of terminal, the freight is never touched:
Relay
An inherent advantage of pipelines is their:
Reliability
Intermodal transportation requires a significant infrastructure investment to upgrade equipment, ports, and railways. Due to the large investment required, companies such as Norfolk Southern have:
Relied on partnerships with local, state, and federal governments to obtain the needed funding.
One approach used for routing vehicles begins with sending a vehicle to each location. Locations are combined into routes based on the ability to produce the greatest reduction in miles [or in some instances time] traveled. Routes continue to be combined based on the greatest reduction in mileage until the number of available trucks [vehicles] is reached. This heuristic is referred to as:
Savings approach
The percent of intercity ton-miles carried by domestic water carriers have continually declined since 1980. What factors have contributed to the decline in domestic water carriers?
Service disruptions due to freezing, flooding, or droughts
Of the carriers registered with the Department of Transportation, the majority operate:
Six or fewer trucks
The inherent advantage of air carriers is:
Speed
Motor carriers possess an inherent advantage in:
Speed (over 700 mi) and Accessibility
Which organization has responsibility for the economic regulation of domestic water carriers between US ports, Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories?
Surface Transportation Board
Which independent regulatory commission has responsibility for the economic regulation of railroads?
Surface Transportation Board (STB)
The largest truckload (TL) carrier in the U.S. is?
Swift
Deregulation of the motor carrier has produced a situation where:
The LTL segment has consolidated and the TL segment rapidly expanded
Required video and reading by Marc Levinson, author of The Box, traces the development intermodal transportation. Mr. Levinson credits which activity as the major contributing to the general, or widespread, acceptance intermodal transportation?
The Vietnam War
Air cargo as a structured industry dates from:
The conclusion of World War II and many veterans forming "GI airlines" using surplus aircraft
What is modal shift?
The growth in demand of a transport mode at the expense of another.
Although intermodal transportation offers several benefits, many shippers cite disadvantages associated with using intermodal transportation. A key disadvantage cited by many shippers is:
The infrequent service provided by the railroads
A key performance metric for air carriers is the load factor. What does load factor measure?
The percentage of a plane's capacity that is utilized
Which of the following scenarios best satisfies the definition of intermodal transportation?
The transfer of a container off of a railcar directly onto a trailer chassis for movement to the final destination by a motor carrier
A strategy recently being employed by intermodal shippers is transloading. What is transloading?
The transfer of freight form one type of shipping container to another, such as international to domestic container.
Transloading refers to:
The unloading of freight from international shipping containers into domestic truck trailers
Southwest, American, Delta, and United are classified as major U.S. air carriers. Why are they classified as major carriers?
These carriers have more than $1B in revenue.
Why have public projects promoting domestic water carriers been criticized?
These projects have questionable value to society and users do not assume the full burden of the costs.
Pipelines and railroads tend to have higher levels of fixed costs than other carriers since:
They provide their own "right of way"
The number of class one railroads serving shippers in Texas is:
Three
Which routing represents a significant problems for transportation executives charged with this responsibility. Vehicle routing should be carefully examined because of:
Transportation costs
Which mode of transportation is most frequently used in intermodal transportation?
Trucking
This event led to much greater acceptance of shippers to transport oil and refined products by pipeline.
U-boat campaign to sink oil tankers off the US coast during World War II
The largest trucking company in the United States based on revenue is:
UPS
Many shipping companies initially use different container sizes in addition to those used by Malcolm McLean. What led to the standardized 20 and 40 foot containers used in international shipping today?
United States Navy required subsidized ship construction to use these standards.
The US government initially promoted air cargo during the period between World War I and World War II by:
Using aircraft to move air mail for the postal service.
This event is frequently identified as leading to the acceptance of intermodal shipping containers as a means to effectively transport international freight:
Vietnam War
Which other modes of transportation compete strongly with railroads?
Water, truck, and pipeline.
When do economies of density exist for an air carrier?
When a carrier has significant volume between an origin destination pair to fully utilize capacity on the forward and backhaul segments.
Since deregulation, the financial plight of the railroads has:
Worsened, and the federal government may need to intervene and re-regulate the railroads
Which of the following statements is true regarding the promotion of domestic air carriers?
foreign carriers are prohibited from competing with US-carriers for domestic (within the 50 states) freight and passenger movements