THE CRITICAL PATH METHOD AS THE METHOD FOR EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE OPTIMAL CONTAINER TRADE ROUTE BETWEEN ASIA AND SLOVAKIA

Abstract

Containers, as intermodal transport units, not only reduce loading time in sea ports; but they also help to protect cargo against its damage, loss and theft. Nowadays different types of containers are carried by cellular container ships among the continents. In maritime transport there are three main container trade routes that link the developed to developing countries located in Asia, Europe and America. One of these routes links top Asian and European container ports. Vessels, which operate on this route, have to sail through important maritime canals and straits. Some of these places are dangerous because of piracy or local war conflicts.

The goal of this paper is to choose an appropriate method of cargo transport between a selected Asian container port and the Slovak Republic. At the beginning we will describe the container trade route Asia and Europe, Asian and European container ports that handle containers. Then we would like to identify the criteria such as transport time, transport costs, risks during transport which be used for the analysis of the proposed routes. At the end we will use the critical path method, one of the methods of Operation Analysis that will help to evaluate and identify the optimal container route between Asia and Slovakia.