Accounting for transport times in planning off-site shipment of construction materials

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • F. F.Alireza Ahmadian - , University of New South Wales (Author)
  • Ali Akbarnezhad - , University of New South Wales (Author)
  • Taha H. Rashidi - , University of New South Wales (Author)
  • S. Travis Waller - , University of New South Wales (Author)

Abstract

Off-site transportation of construction materials is planned commonly by considering the transportation costs as the dominant decision variable. Despite the significant impact of delays in the delivery of materials on the progress of projects, there is a lack of a systematic approach to estimating the off-site transport time of materials by considering the material characteristics and logistics options. This paper uses the results of a case study to highlight the importance of accounting for off-site material transport time in the planning of an industrial megaproject where small delays in activities requiring diverse materials could significantly delay the progress of the project, leading to considerable financial loss in some cases. In addition, a framework is proposed for estimating the duration of off-site transportation in industrial megaprojects by categorizing construction materials based on their supply chain structure and accounting for the effects of the transport mode, size, and weight of consignments. The results of the case study indicate that adjusting the logistics variables based on the results of a statistical analysis on transportation monitoring data collected in the earlier stages of a project may lead to a reduced delay in off-site transportation in subsequent stages.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number04015050
JournalJournal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume142
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2016
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-2939-2090/work/141543797

Keywords

Keywords

  • Construction material categories, Cost and schedule, Delay, Planning off-site transportation, Shipment variables