1.2 Etymology

The word “transport hub” went from the other definition of the word “hub” which has the meaning in English like - the central part of a car wheel (or fan or propeller etc) through which the shaft or axle passes. If we look on the scheme of hub we can see picture similar with the picture of weel because we have center and other parts are linked with the center.

Example of hub system.

1.3Hystory

Delta Air Lines pioneered the hub and spoke system for aviation in 1955 from its hub in Atlanta, Georgia, United States in an effort to compete with Eastern Air Lines. FedEx adopted the hub and spoke model for overnight package delivery during the 1970s. When the airline industry was deregulated in 1978, Delta's hub and spoke paradigm was annexed by several airlines.

According to experts, clear criteria as to which projects should be called a major multimodal hub, does not exist. Its infrastructure and model of development depends on many factors: the goal of a traffic flow in the country, etc.

According to Knight Frank, the initiative to create multimodal centers may come from the government or private business, and may be the product of joint creativity. In France, for example, initially the major projects of multimodal centers was developed by two private companies (one of them has acquired US developer Prologis, and the other was experiencing financial difficulties and was nationalized). As a result, it can be said that the French model is characterized by a mixed type.

In Spain and Italy, the investor of logistics centers was the state. Now these countries are actively developing private investments, but kept quotas on the state's participation in the management.

Today there are some big hubs in Europe, South Asia, USA like Rotterdam, Hamburg, Singapore, Gdansk, Clypede, New York and etc.

Paragraph 2. Organization of hubs and hub-and-Spock model.

2.1. Causes of appearance

The need for such ports appeared in connection with the following trends in the development of maritime transport:

1. Currently approximately 30% of global container traffic is a transshipment or handling of cargo;

2. Transshipment allows to shipper to use and choose additional alternative transport routes and reduces transit time;

3. Sea transport currently relies on transshipment as a means of reducing the number of ships used at the same time.

The appearance of regional port hub ensures a large volume of traffic, the creation of new jobs, as well as helping to attract investments to the region. Carriers using the same port hubs can optimize supply routes.

2.2. Requirements

Formation of the hub port requires a number of prerequisites: the port chosen for the role of a hub must be able to receive larger vessels (berth of at least 295 m in length, the presence of 3-4 cranes on the quay, etc.); availability of rail and road access routes, well-functional intermodal transport connections, as well as all manufacturing operations, minimizing the transit time of goods from sea to berth, simplified procedures for the passage of ships and cargoes through the port hub, non-stop operation, which ensures the provision of services at any time without weekends and holidays, including pilotage, towage, mooring and other basic operations, container terminals must be provided with adequate port facilities and places of storage containers and the period of storage of the container in the port should not exceed 3 days, and the turnover of forklifts, container should not exceed 30 minutes, etc. Also, the choice for the role of the port-port hub depends on the gravity zone (the area from which obtained the import and export of sending). These zones have a significant impact on the ports-hubs. But this mutual influence - the presence of the port with a developed transport infrastructure contributes to the development of territories. The boundaries of the area are determined by the gravity convenient delivery of cargo to the port and back while minimizing transportation costs.

2.3. Hub-and-spock model

The most common model is the "hub-and-Spock". In this model, ship arrived at the port hub with a cargo is transferred into smaller vessels (feeder vessels). Nowadays model "hub and Spock" rampant not only in maritime transport but also in the air, land. The hub and spoke model is a system which makes transportation much more efficient by greatly simplifying a network of routes. It is extensively used in commercial aviation for both passengers and freight, and the model has also been adopted in the technology sector as well. Delta Airlines pioneered the method in 1955, but it wasn't until the 1970s, when the FedEx company took advantage of the concept, that the method really took hold, revolutionizing the way airlines were run.

The model is named after a bicycle wheel, which has a strong central hub with a series of connecting spokes. In the sense of aviation, an airline routes all of its traffic through one central hub or hubs; Dallas and Detroit, for example. Almost all of the airline's aircraft flies on spokes between destinations and the hub, with very few direct flights between other destinations. Routing all the traffic through the hub actually makes the overall system more efficient, although it can be frustrating for passengers at times.