Details:

Creators:
Smith, Julia M. ; Sullivan, James ; Grover, Rebecca
Smith, Julia M. ; Sullivan, James ; Grover, Rebecca Less -
Corporate Creators:
University of Vermont. Transportation Research Center
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Bulk Cargo Food Freight Transportation Liquid Bulk Cargo Milk--Transportation, Bulk Milk Transportation, Network Robustness Index, Food Supply Chain Supply Chain Management
Publication/ Report Number:
UVM TRC Report # 11-006
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
Vermont
Corporate Publisher:
University of Vermont. Transportation Research Center
Abstract:
The food supply chain is an interwoven network consisting of producers, processors,

manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers. With the exception of direct

marketing or community-supported agriculture systems, some or all of these intermediaries

are involved. In all cases, links between each member of the supply chain are subject to

disruption. A disruption in transit of goods between any of these points, be it a detour, poor

road condition, theft, accident, or major disruption caused by natural, accidental, or

intentional catastrophe can have consequences ranging from reduced efficiency of operations

to total loss of value of product (if stolen or highly perishable). Given that the food and

agriculture sector was declared a critical infrastructure by Homeland Security Presidential

Directive 9 [1], ways to assess vulnerabilities and prioritize mitigation strategies are needed.

One such tool for identifying critical links in a transportation network is the Network

Robustness Index (NRI) [2]. The NRI provides a system-wide approach to identifying critical

links and evaluating transportation network performance. The theoretical framework of the

NRI accounts for network-wide demand and traffic re-assignment. It may prove a useful

approach for evaluating critical links for freight commodity or any other transportation

flows.

The objective of this project was to apply the NRI to a real-life data set of freight

transportation flows over a real road network. Given the dominant position of dairy in

Vermont’s agricultural production and export markets, the flow of bulk milk from farm to

first collection point was selected for study. Application of the NRI to Vermont milk

transportation networks would help focus attention on links critical to the overall

performance of the road infrastructure serving the raw milk supply chain. This report

presents the analysis of a data set reflecting milk movements in northwestern Vermont.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:e656146347f9d28117b0a10a137d96a0bd7939bfda8faf30875d8aa8fc2b894e
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/23212/dot_23212_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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