

‫ە‬Research Trends and Results Characteristics of roads
traveled by international
marine container trucks



SEKIYA Hirotaka, Senior Researcher UESAKA Katsumi, HeadMATSUMOTO Shunsuke, Researcher FURUKAWA Makoto, Guest Researcher
Traffic Engineering Division, Road Department(Keyword) International logistics, international marine container, truck, route selection

Research Trends and Results
1. Introduction
Our division conducts survey research on thecharacteristics of actual routes traveled and of routeselection activity by international marine containertrucks in order to accumulate knowledge of use instudying measures to smooth international logistics.
Below, an outline of the survey and analysis and partof the knowledge already obtained are introduced.

empty containers from the shipper to the containerterminal) of the import container transport (firsttransport run of the day) (Fig. 3) shows that ahigher percentage travel on expressways for theirreturn run than their outward runs (1% is significant,t-value =4.3). The reasons were confirmed asfollows by interviews with transport companies. On
the outward runs, departure times are adjusted sothat they can arrive at the designated time, andmore economical routes are used. Its merit is thaton the return runs, it is possible to increase thequantity of work done in a single day by shortening
the transport time (the next transport is performed
or the next days’ loaded containers are picked up in
advance, etc.). So, on return runs, there is a stronger
incentive to shorten the time than on outward runs
which means a high percentage use expressways for
return runs.

2. Outline of survey and analysis of routes actuallytraveled
(1) Surveyors visited 83 container transportcompanies in the Kanto Region to survey thetransport routes they usually use (routes actuallytraveled), departure/arrival times, and whether or
not arrival times are designated. As a result, we
obtained information regarding 890 container
truck routes and 112 ordinary truck routes.
(2) Road network data was built with informationsuch as road widths or intersection standards etc.
which are included in the Road Information
Manual as its link attributes.
(3) The routes actually traveled information obtainedin (1) was applied to the road network dataobtained in (2) and various analyses areperformed.
3. Knowledge concerning routes traveled bycontainer trucks
The following is knowledge we obtained from theanalysis.
‫ۑ‬The percentage distance traveled on nationalhighways and higher level roads is 88% forcontainer trucks 54% for passenger cars, showingthat a high percentage of container trucks travel onhigh standard roads (Fig. 1). ‫ۑ‬The turning percentage at the highest standard Rank
A intersection (a vehicle less than 20m in length
can turn without intruding on the opposing vehiclelane) is 77% for container trucks and 65% for smalltrucks, showing that a high percentage of container
trucks turn at high standard intersections (Fig. 2). ‫ۑ‬A comparison of the outward run (transport routefor loaded containers from the container terminal tothe shipper) and return run (transport route of

4. Conclusion
In the future, we want to model container truck
route selection actions based on knowledge obtainedin the past and apply it to study international logistics
smoothing measures etc. Related research is available on the Traffic Engineering Division
web site KWWSZZZQLOLPJRMSODEJEJLQGH[KWPNational expressway
㧗㏿⮬ື㌴ᅜ㐨Road network length㐨㊰䝛䝑䝖䝽䞊䜽ᘏ㛗

Metropolitan
expressway
㤳㒔㧗㏿㐨㊰୍⯡ᅜ㐨Regionalroadᆅ᪉㐨

National highway

37%

Container truckvehicle-kilometers䝁䞁䝔䝘㌴㉮⾜ྎ䜻䝻

88%

Passenger
car vehicle kilometers஌⏝㌴㉮⾜ྎ䜻䝻

54%

0%

20%

65% 40%

60%

80%

100%

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Figure 1. Vehicle-kilometer Percentageつ᱁㧗䛔Highstandard
䝷䞁䜽ARank
ATotalnumber of road network intersection links㐨㊰䝛䝑䝖䝽䞊䜽஺ᕪⅬ䝸䞁䜽⥲ᩘ
Numberof container truck turning intersection links
䝁䞁䝔䝘㌴ᢡ㐍஺ᕪⅬ䝸䞁䜽ᩘ

Numberof small truck turning intersection linksᑠᆺ䝖䝷䝑䜽ᢡ㐍஺ᕪⅬ䝸䞁䜽ᩘ

0%䝷䞁䜽BRankB䝷䞁䜽CRank
CLow つ᱁ప䛔
standard
䝷䞁䜽DRank
D

60%80%48%77%
65%
20%65% 40%

Figure 2. Standards for turning Intersections

100%‫ە‬Research Trends and Results

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Retu

rn
R

unOut

wardRunShipperⲴ୺

National expressway
㧗㏿⮬ື㌴ᅜ㐨
Metropolitan expressway
㤳㒔㧗㏿㐨㊰National highway୍⯡ᅜ㐨ᆅ᪉㐨Regional road䝁䞁䝔䝘䝍䞊䝭䝘䝹Containerterminal

Figure 3. Outward Run and Return Run Routes ofImport Containers (Example)