The 14^th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) took place on July 10 – 15, 2016 in Shanghai, China.  The program included more than 1,170 papers presented in oral and poster sessions.  The authors from 65 countries ensured that WCTR 2016 was a truly international event.  The MetroFreight Center of Excellence was well represented by research project presentations given by faculty, researchers and doctoral students from the University of Southern California (USC), California State University Long Beach (CSULB), City College of New York, IFSTTAR University of Paris-Est, France (IFSTTAR) and The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI) of the Republic of Korea as outlined below.

Sunday July 10, 2016

A conference for young members (WCTRS-Y) was organized for which Laetitia Dablanc was a scientific advisor. Professor Dablanc will become the WCTRS-Y President for the period 2016-2019 with the goal of organizing the next young members’ conference in May 2019 in Mumbay.

Monday, July 11, 2016

• Port Innovation
  Cost effectiveness in port innovation was presented by USC METRANS Director Genevieve Giuliano during a Special Session that included a debate on key challenges for port innovation.
• Rail Operations
  Models and algorithms for dynamic headway was research described by PhD Student Lunce Fu and Professor Maged Dessouky, USC.
• Logistics Sprawl Case Studies and Indicators
  A set of three special sessions (see also below) on this topic was organized by Laetitia Dablanc. In the first one, Professor Dablanc, IFSTTAR served as Session Chair and led two presentations: The first with PhD student Adeline Heitz on Spatial patterns of logistics facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden; and the second on The geography of warehousing in Belo Horizonte (Brazil).
• Organizations and Governance
  Trucking regulation as a critical supply chain asset in port complexes was addressed by Tom O’Brien, Executive Director of the Center for International Trade and Transportation, CSULB.
• Poster Program: Freight Transport and Logistics
  The overseas development of logistics companies and public policy in Korea was explained by Taihyeong Lee, Research Fellow, KOTI.
  Developing city logistics policy through identifying parcel freight determinants in the City of Seoul was presented by the KOTI team of Sangbeom Seo as Team Leader, Researcher Changlin Ahn, and Jee-Sun Lee, Associate Research Fellow.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

• Logistics Sprawl: Analysis of Factors
  Location of warehouses and environmental justice project was presented by Quan (Jack) Yuan, USC PhD student.
  Logistics sprawl in monocentric and polycentric metropolitan areas: The cases of Paris, France, and the Randstad, The Netherlands, was explained by PhD student Adeline Heitz and Professor Laetitia Dablanc, IFSTTAR.
• Consolidation and Sharing Space
  Potential and limitations of collective parcel delivery systems in Paris was presented by Pierre Launay, PhD student, IFSTTAR.
• Public Transport
  Locating turnover transfer center for large metropolitan areas in the case of Seoul, Korea presented by Y. Kwon and J. Oh, KOTI. Wednesday, July 13, 2016.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

• Case Studies and Non-Road (1)
  Using urban form to characterize logistics profiles – A case study of Paris was shared by PhD student Adrien Beziat, IFSTTAR.
• Logistics Sprawl: Global Questions
  The location of logistic activities in metropolitan areas: An issue of urban planning? The case of Paris was described by Adeline Heitz, PhD Student, IFSTTAR.
• Applications of Travel Behavior Analysis and Demand Modelling Approaches, Spatial and Temporal Dimensions
  Spatial dimensions of e-shopping in France was described by Professor Laetitia Dablanc (Session Chair) and Researcher Eleonora Morganti, IFSTTAR.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

• Electric Vehicles, Alternative Fuels and Cargo Bikes
  Cargo cycles for local delivery in New York City:  Performance and impacts was a team effort by Alison Conway, J. Cheng, Professor Camille Kamga, and D. Wan, City College of New York. This paper was awarded “best freight paper” of WCTR 2016.

This brief outline highlights the research presented by those associated with the MetroFreight Center of Excellence, funded by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF).  All reviewed conference papers will be published in a Transportation Research Procedia volume of selected proceedings, and some of them will be labeled for potential publication in selected partner scientific Journals.

Another highlight of the conference was a technical visit to Yangshan Deep-Water Port, the largest container port in the world. Metrofreight members Tom O’Brien, Alison Conway, Laetitia Dablanc participated.