Transportation and logistics in a joint systems context: a conceptual model and case study of fuel supply to an airport

Over a period of thirty years transportation science has moved its focus from traffic to transport and then on to mobility. Similarly logistics has changed its focus from the single shipment to material flows and finally to complete supply chains. An approach is presented which joins the four concepts of land use, accessibility, transport and traffic into a single systems model, which should be equally applicable to passengers and freight and serve as a tool of improving the understanding among individuals dealing with transportation and logistics problems, respectively. The model is applied to a case involving transportation of jet kerosene from the West and East coast of Sweden to the Stockholm Arlanda international airport. The existing transportation system is heavily criticised, since it involves frequent lorry trips through central Stockholm and the use of an oil harbour that has no permanent concession. As an alternative a railway based solution is discussed. Calculations show that even without consideration of external costs, this would offer lower transport costs.