Rationale for Transport Costs when Transporting Bulk Cargo in Containers with the Integral Method

Currently, a large volume of exports of coal and other bulk cargo to China is carried out by container method, the main advantage of which is the possibility of multimodal transportation. This issue is also relevant for other countries, linked by transport corridors with sea transportation. However, one of the main problems of container transportation of coal is reduced net weight of the cargo transported in two containers as compared to one standard gondola wagon used previously. The study describes an integral calculation of five possible options for loading coal into a container with formation of a «cap» in the form of spherical or elliptical segments. As a result of the calculations, volumetric and mass underload of containers was identified, which significantly affects transportation costs. A polynomial approximation of the considered options for placing coal in containers on railway flat wagons within a train showed an increase in operating costs due to underloading associated with the downtime of the flat wagon and container under cargo operations (loading/unloading) and transportation tariffs. Proposals have been made to reduce transport costs for container transportation of coal and other bulk cargo by rail.