COAL LOGISTICS SYSTEM (COLS)

The Coal Logistics System (COLS) is a comprehensive coal transportation and transshipment model that solves for coal flows on a network from supply nodes through transshipment nodes to steam and metallurigical demand nodes on the basis of systemwide cost minimization. The model is solved for a representative time period for the system of ports, and all decision variables are solved for simultaneously. COLS is a constrained optimization model formulated as a linear program with some integer variables. Its solution indicates the sources of the various types of coal, the routes and modes of transportation, and the locations, activity levels, and types of transshipment facilities that together minimize the systemwide costs. Effectively, the COLS model minimizes the cost per delivered British thermal unit of U.S. coal. COLS was designed specifically for the evaluation of coal flows in a competitive multiport framework. Coal can be routed from virtually any mining region by any feasible mode to any port and then to any demand node. Thus, ports need not be restricted by a predefined supply hinterland or a limited destination area. From one scenario to the next, a single destination can receive coal of a different quality from a different origin via a different mode through a different port. Cost reductions from one scenario to the next can thus include transport cost savings, change of origin or destination benefits (including lower coal purchase costs), and change of mode savings as well as port improvements and the use of new technologies.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1222/1222-002.pdf
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309049547
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1222, Ports, Waterways, and Inland Water Transportation.Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Osleeb, Jeffrey P
  • Ratick, Samuel J
  • Kuby, Michael J
  • Olson, Howard E
  • Antle, Lloyd G
  • Hawnn, Arthur F
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 6-13
• Monograph Title: PORTS, WATERWAYS, AND INLAND WATER TRANSPORTATION
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1222
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coal; Competition; Costs; Logistics; Mathematical models; Minimization; Network analysis (Planning); Network nodes; Optimization; Origin and destination; Ports; Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Network flows; Transportation models
• Old TRIS Terms: Nodes
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00494733
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309049547
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 30 1990 12:00AM