LSCM 4560 Exam 2 Online Quizzes
Which of the following does not accurately depict the service and operating characteristics of domestic carriers?
Low loss and damage
The most common type of terminal found in the less-than-truckload network is
pick-up and delivery
Which of the following statements regarding private motor carriers is false?
...Can carry only the company's freight
Driver turn-over represents a major issue for most carriers. The turn-over rate spiked in 2005, 2008, and 2012 hitting levels exceeding
100%
Federal safety regulations limit the hours of service for motor carrier drivers. Following a ten hour rest period, a driver may operate [drive] a truck for up to how many hours?
11
What are the standard lengths for international intermodal containers?
20 and 40 feet
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 is the total number of railroads (Class 1, regional, shortline, and switching) that operate in the United States?
575
An inland port is a facility
A rail or barge terminal linked to a maritime terminal with regular inland transport services
An intermodal marketing company (IMC):
A third-party logistics provider that assists shippers with intermodal freight movements.
An intermodal chassis refers to
A truck trailer (frame) specially designed to transport containers
A key operating and service disadvantage for air carriers is:
Accessibility
Motor carriers have the greatest advantage in which of the following service and operating characteristics?
Accessibility
Which of the following statements best characterizes the operating ratio for air carriers?
Air carriers have recently had operating ratios in the high 90s and sometimes over 100 percent due to high variable costs
How has the creation of Amtrak promoted US freight railroads?
Amtrak assumed responsibility for passenger service allowing the railroads to shed their unprofitable passenger business
This type of cargo carrier uses "belly" cargo:
Combination
The largest Class I railroad in the US based on freight revenue is:
BNSF
The largest intermodal carrier in North America is:
BNSF.
A unique operating and service characteristic of pipelines is that this mode does not offer:
Backhauls
The most common equipment used by domestic water carriers is:
Barges
Approximately how many for-hire motor carriers are registered with the US Department of Transportation?
Between 400,000 and 600,000
Railroads have an inherent advantage in
Capability
The majority of freight rail cars in the United States are owned by:
Car companies [lease] and private shippers
Which of the following is the basic unit of measurement of freight handling used by railroads?
Carload
The STB classifies railroads into three categories based on revenue and miles of track operated. The three classifications include
Class 1, regional (Class 2), and switching/terminal operators (Class 3)
You have been asked to provide a technique that will allow even Dr Pohlen to quickly route a single vehicle through a network similar to the following. Which of the following heuristics would you use?
Closest next
You would probably select this heuristic when routing a single vehicle through multiple points before returning to the origin [starting point].
Closest next
Which of the following bulk commodities accounts for the largest proportion of ton-miles moved by rail?
Coal
Air carriers can be broadly divided into three categories. Which of the following categories includes air carriers that offer passenger and freight service?
Combination
A disadvantage associated with the use of pipelines is:
Completeness of service—do not provide door-to-door service
Moving a container involves a set of cost and time intensive activities. The most time intensive activity involves:
Containership travel
Which of the following was identified as a key issue confronting the domestic water carrier industry?
Continuation of the Jones Act
This type of motor carrier terminal focuses requires careful synchronizing on inbound and outbound shipments to ensure freight is quickly sorted and moved to its final destination with no storage:
Cross-dock
The tonnage carried by domestic water carriers has:
Decreased due to declines in the US steel industry and petroleum production
Which of the following best explains the reason why only a limited number of pipeline companies exist ?
Duplication or parallel competing lines are uneconomical.
Current hours-of-service (HOS) regulations limit the number of hours a drive can operate a commercial motor vehicle for an interstate carrier during a 24 hour period to:
Eleven
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
The largest air cargo carrier in the US is:
Fed-Ex
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
Image showing map. The Friday delivery locations overlap with the Tuesday delivery locations Retailers often confront a delivery scenario similar to the one shown in the graphic below. The routing in this scenario could be improved by:
Forming clusters and delivering to each cluster on different days
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
The decline of the US steel industry has had the greatest effect on which segment of the domestic water industry?
Great Lakes
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
Air carriers were deregulated in the late 1970s. Which of the following represents one of the most significant results from deregulation?
Growth and expansion of integrated carriers.
Air carriers have recently had an operating ratio in which of the following ranges:
High 80s-air carriers have high fuel and labor variable expenses
The cost structure for railroads can generally be characterized as:
High fixed, low variable
The federal, state, and local governments highly promote air transportation. As a result, we would expect:
High user fees to recover the costs of government promotion
Motor carriers compete effectively with rail carriers
In distances under 500 miles
Intermodal competition for motor carriers:
Includes air and rail
During the 1980-2017 timeframe, the ton-miles moves by rail carriers:
Increased and has almost achieved the same level of growth as motor carriers
The average tons of freight per trainload has:
Increased due to increased locomotive power, longer trains, and larger capacity per railcar
The proportion of intercity ton-miles transported by each mode has shifted over time. In the case of motor carriers, the percentage has:
Increased due to logistics managers attempting to reduce their total cost by trading off transportation costs to obtain more than off-setting cost reductions in inventory carrying costs
Fuel prices affect air cargo volumes by:
Increasing the cost of air transport and causing shippers to shift to less expensive modes
The segment of domestic water carriers moving the most intercity ton-miles is:
Inland waterways
Which of the following includes the major categories of domestic water carriers?
Inland, coastal, and great lakes
Intermodal competition for water carriers can be characterized as:
Intense competition exists as water carriers primarily compete with pipelines and rail and to a limited degree with motor carriers
Intramodal competition among combination carriers can best be described as:
Intense due to airlines seeking to use pricing to preserve market share and protect key routes and hubs
Water carriers compete vigorously with the other transportation modes. Competition within each segment of the water carrier can be characterized as:
Intense within each segment as carriers compete on rates and service offerings
Competition between carriers for air cargo can be best described as:
Intense. Deregulation opened the doors for air carriers to compete based on price
The intramodal competitive situation for railroads can be characterized as:
Intense—railroads compete directly with motor and water carriers
The freight contributing the largest proportion of revenues to rail carriers is:
Intermodal
The largest source of revenue for the class one railroads is:
Intermodal
The most serious threat to the pipeline industry is from which form of competition?
Intermodal
Which of the following type of shipments generated the most railcar traffic for the Class 1 railroads?
Intermodal
Which of the following is not true regarding competition for air carriers?
Intramodal competition is relatively insensitive to price, and carriers compete primarily on the frequency and timing of flights
Which of the following provides a monopoly for U.S. coastal and intercoastal carriers by prohibiting foreign-registered carriers from hauling domestic coastal and intercoastal traffic?
Jones Act
The highest single cost (expense) for motor carriers is
Labor
The single largest expense for the railroads is:
Labor
Which of the following represents the greatest single expense for the class 1 railroads?
Labor
The intermodal movement of a container from the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach to the Port of New York/New Jersey for transfer to a ship bound for Europe represents what type of land bridge?
Landbridge
Intramodal competition between pipeline carriers can best be characterized as:
Limited since economies of scale and high fixed costs have led to joint ownership across multiple users
A lighter aboard ship (LASH) is used to transport:
Loaded barges from one port to another
We can characterize intramodal competition for rail carriers as:
Low as most areas are served by only a single railroad
Intramodal competition between pipelines can be characterized as:
Low, competition would result in wasteful duplication
Many transportation managers are considering a shift of some of their domestic freight volumes to intermodal. They are considering an increased usage of intermodal because of:
Lower cost
The individual credited with advancing the use of intermodal shipping containers is:
Malcolm McLean of McLean Trucking
This type of train consists of a mixture of real card types and shipments
Manifest Train
Motor carriers primarily transport:
Manufactured consumer goods
Deregulation of motor carriers resulted in numerous failures of trucking companies. These failures can be most likely explained by
Many companies were unable to adapt to a market involving more competitive pricing and entry/exit
Pipelines have an operating ratio of:
Mid 70's
The domestic water carrier industry consists of three segments. We can characterize the intramodal competition between these three segments as:
Minimal to non-existent since geography physically separates most of the segments.
Which of the following statements best characterizes the regulatory situation of domestic water carriers?
Most water carriers transport bulk commodities and are exempt from economic regulation. Many others are private. As a result, economic regulation has had little effect on the industry.
Railroads confront more intermodal competition than any other mode. Their primary intermodal competitors include
Motor, water, and pipeline 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
Which of the following statements best describes government promotion of intermodal transportation?
No government funding has targeted the development of an intermodal system in the United States.
The Surface Transportation Board has responsibility for regulating which type of pipeline carrier?
Non-petroleum pipelines engaged in interstate commerce
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
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 primarily move bulk commodities. Which commodity accounts for the largest proportion of the tonnage moved by domestic water carriers?
Petroleum products
A key issue confronting water carriers is:
Possible legislative action to end the Jones Act and domestic water's monopoly
Domestic water carriers primarily compete with which of the following modes?
Rail and pipeline
The following vehicle routing solution is an example of which routing heuristic? The figure shows a distribution center node in the center with several wedges formed from rays emanating from the center. Within the wedges formed by the rays, routes have been formed to delivery or pick-up from several customers.
Ray sweep
This approach begins by assigning a vehicle to each location. Routes are built by combining located based on the greatest reduction in total miles.
Savings Approach
Since deregulation, the financial plight of the railroads has:
Significantly improved with the railroads achieving their strongest financial position ever.
Of the carriers registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the majority operate:
Six or fewer trucks
The aging lock and dam system affects the domestic water carrier industry by:
Slowing down their operations—must often make multiple trips due to limited capacity of the locks
Which of the following partially deregulated the railroads?
Staggers Act
Which organization has responsibility for the economic regulation of domestic water carriers between US ports, Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories?
Surface Transportation Board
The interstate pipeline movement of coal slurry would be economically regulated by which of the following independent regulatory commissions?
Surface Transportation Board (STB)
Which of the following independent regulatory commisions regulates interstate rail movements of oil and coal?
Surface Transportation Board (STB)
Which act economically "deregulated" the rail industry?
The Staggers Act of 1980
Congress passed the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. Passage of the Act recognized that the railroads faced intense competition for freight traffic, but prevailing regulation prevented the railroads from competing effectively and earning adequate revenues. Which of the follow statements best describes the current regulatory environment in which railroads operate?
The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 did not completely deregulate the railroads. In addition to retaining authority over a variety of non-rate areas, the Surface Transportation Board retained the authority to set maximum rates or take other actions if a railroad is found to have market dominance.
This organization was responsible for forcing the ocean carriers to adopt 20 and 40 foot containers as the industry standard:
The U.S. Navy.
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
Railroads on their own right of way or infrastructure. Which of the following statements is true regarding the trend in the miles of track operated by class I railroads much
The amount of track operated by the class I railroads has continued to decrease over time as the railroads focus on operating longer trains over longer distances.
This routing model considers whether multiple LTL or parcel shipments should occur on a frequent basis or whether these shipments should be combined into larger, LTL or TL shipments occurring less frequently.
The freight consolidation model
What development led to the steady replacement of motor carriers for railroads [trucking being used more often] over the last several decades?
The interstate highway system
Minimum tender refers to:
The minimum quantity required for shipment by pipeline
Lighter aboard ship (LASH) vessels are used for:
The movement of barges aboard the ship between ports along the coastline.
Transloading is widely used in intermodal transportation. We can best describe transloading as:
The unloading of freight from one mode (or container) and transferring the freight into another mode (or container size).
Following graduation at UNT, you have accepted a position with one of the largest retailers in North America. Due to the growth in Internet sales, you have been asked to make a presentation to the executive team regarding your actions to route delivery vehicles. Why do you believe the executive team has such an interest in vehicle routing?
They want to ensure delivery service levels are achieved but at the lowest possible cost
This diagram shows two routes. What actions could be taken to improve these routes? The figure shows two routes. The routes are oval shaped and parallel to each other. The customer locations are weighted at the end of each oval with no customer locations in between.
Tighter clustering to reduce travel time
Many individuals and companies initially considered air cargo to be too expensive and a luxury. What "sold," or was used to justify, the use of air freight?
Total cost and cost trade-off analyses
A 1956 study by the Harvard Business School justified the use of air freight for specific commodities. The justification was based on a cost trade-off analysis that produced a lower total cost for the firm. What cost trade-offs were made?
Total cost was reduced by offsetting the increase in transportation costs by using air with lower inventory carrying costs
Railroads have attempted to offer several service innovations. One of these is a unit train. Which of the following best describes the unit train concept?
Trains move as a single unit and are not re-classified or broken apart until delivered to the final customer.
Which segment of the motor carrier industry experience significant growth in the number of carriers following deregulation?
Truckload
This form of crude oil pipeline acts as a major artery connecting gathering tanks with refineries.
Trunk lines
Although air cargo moves less than 1 percent of the international tonnage, the value of the international air freight represents what percent of the total value of international freight?
Twenty-six percent
The operating ratio is a key measure of how efficiently a transportation company operates. For railroads, the operating ratio is typically
Typically in the 60s to low 70s
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 use of containers and other standardized unit load devices have existed for a very long time. What was required to permit the widespread use of containers and intermodal transport?
a standardized system to facilitate the transfer of containers across multiple transportation modes
An operating ratio of 92 percent for a motor carrier suggest:
a) 92 percent of every revenue dollar is consumed by operating expenses b) The carrier probably has a relatively low percentage of fixed costs c) 92 percent of revenue is directly spent on the transportation of freight d) All of the above e) None of the above Answer: All of the above
Which of the following was NOT identified as a factor impacting the growth of air cargo?
a) Flight frequency b) Security c) Air passengers having a two-way flow while air cargo moves in one direction d) Belly cargo moving just under 50 percent of the air freight moved e) Passengers not moving along same paths (routes) as air cargo Answer: Flight frequency
We can classify motor carriers by which of the following categories?
a) For hire, contract, and private b) Truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) c) Type of commodity carried (e.g., refrigerated, flatbed, household goods, etc.) d) All of the above e) None of the above Answer:All the above
Domestic water transportation consists of three distinct segments or forms. Which of the following is one of the three?
a) Integrated b) Canal c) Inland d) Containerized e) Breakbulk Answer: Inland
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?
a) Intermodal accounts for over half of JB Hunt's revenue b) JB Hunt now has over 34,000 containers c) Truckload sales are less than 25 percent of JB d) Hunt's total revenue e)All of the above f)None of the above Answer: All of the above
Air cargo specializes in the transport of:
a) perishables. b) high value to density items. c) expensive electronics. d) high priority freight. e) all of the above. Answer: All of the Above
The major elements of air cargo include:
air mail, air freight, scheduled and air express
In addition to alcohol and substance abuse, a key issue confronting the water carrier industry is:
an aging infrastructure.
Transit time via water transportation is the longest of the four primary modes commodities. This modal service disadvantage has to be traded-off against the low inventory carrying cost to the shipper for the transport of commodities. This tradeoff usually makes water transport attractive for which commodities.
basic raw materials
Due to the Champlin Oil Case ruling by the Supreme Court, most oil pipelines in the US operate as:
common carriers
The importance of domestic water in the US transportation system has been declining. The text attributes this decline to:
decline of manufacturing and increased focus on logistics performance
When routing vehicles, several constraints may be encountered such as
delivery time windows
Current forms of public promotion for pipelines primarily consist of:
eminent domain
The cost structure for motor carriers:
has high variable costs resulting in high operating ratios.
The cost structure for railroads can be best described as:
high fixed costs due to infrastructure ownership
A high average load factor for an air carrier indicates:
high utilization of the available space for air cargo.
Domestic watercarriers have a cost structure with:
high variable costs, similar to motor carriers
Air carriers are promoted through
infrastructure--airports
The single highest cost for air carriers is:
labor
Which of the following represented the single largest cost element for combination carriers:
labor
Railroads have been historically promoted through the use of:
land grants
What percent of the total intercity ton-miles is moved by air cargo carriers?
less than one percent
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
Water carriers have an operating ratio in the
mid 80s.
Which transportation mode is common to most intermodal shipments?
motor carrier (trucking)
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.
An operating ratio of .80 (or 80 percent) would suggest:
operating expenses are 80 percent of operating revenue
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
The number of class one railroads operating in the United States is currently:
seven
Air carriers have a cost structure:
similar to motor carriers due to the high proportion of variable costs
Motor carriers employ approximately 3.5 millon drivers. Future projections of the driver workforce indicate:
the industry will experience a major shortfall in drivers by 2014
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
Railroads typically have an operating ratio in the high 60s to low 70% range. We would expect railroads to have a low operating ratio because:
they have relatively high fixed costs
Vehicle routing problems may take several forms. This form involves shipping from multiple origins (plants) to multiple destinations (customers):
transshipment
International shipping containers typically are stanardized on two lengths. However, the number of containers is measured in TEUs. A TEU is:
twenty-foot equivalent unit
