Humanitarian Logistics

Humanitarian Warehouses can be categorized into four main types, depending on their functions and locations.

• General Delivery Warehouses: where products are stored for a long time (e.g., months or quarters) or until they are sent to secondary warehouses or distributed in the field. General delivery warehouses are more common in the capital of beneficiary or donor countries or at strategic points of a given region (based on forecasts).[10]

A general delivery warehouse of UNHCR[11]

• Slow Rotation Warehouses: where non-urgent or reserve stockpiles are kept, including goods that are not in frequent demand such as spare parts, equipment, and tools.[10]
• Quick Rotation Warehouses: where emergency supplies quickly move in and out, on a daily or at most weekly basis. Such warehouses are situated near the heart of affected zones and hold items that require prompt distribution among the affected population, including food, blankets, and hygiene items.[10]

A slow rotation warehouse of WFP

• Temporary Collection Sites: where incoming supplies are stored until a more appropriate space can be found. Temporary collection sites include yards, offices, meeting rooms, and garages of disaster relief organizations.[9]

A temporary collection site[12]

humanitariaN Warehouses can also be classified as perishables warehouses or 3PL warehouses.[13] However, it is common in humanitarian logistics to have four types of warehouses as mentioned above. Depending on the magnitude of disasters and the urgency, a certain type of warehouses is needed. For example, for unexpected disasters, temporary warehouses are more common than others. In contrast, for planned disasters, general delivery warehouses are needed to store products in beneficiary countries.

When selecting an appropriate site to store goods, two considerations are important:

• Type of supplies: Pharmaceutical products and foods require a well-ventilated, cool, dry place. Some of these products may even need temperature control. Other items, such as clothing or equipment, have more flexible requirements.
• Size and access to warehouses: the size of the storage site is significantly important. One must take into account not just its current capacity but also the potential for expansion of the storage area. Accessibility is another key issue, particularly for large vehicles.

When planning the type and capacity of transport, five major considerations are crucial:

• The nature of supplies to be transported: Different categories of products requires different handling methods as well as temperature control. For example, hazardous materials must be stored separately from pharmaceutical products and food.[10]
• The weight and volume of the load: Both are critical factors that determine the capacity of vehicles and the type of transport.[10]
• The destination: distance, form of access to the delivery point (by air, water, or land). This factor should be taken into consideration because mobilizing the goods from the ports to the final destinations is often constrained by poor local infrastructure and unexpected events such as floods, landslides, and storms.[16]
• The urgency of the delivery: In most emergency situations, needed goods, particularly food and fuels, are sent by air to destinations although this option is expensive. In humanitarian logistics, the priority is to save more lives.[17]
• Alternative means, methods, and routes: Depending on one option represents a risk, especially there are some force majeure.[10]

The below table provides a simple formula to help planners forecast transport demand during a disaster. There are three main components: the number of trips for a vehicle, the volume, and the total number of vehicles.

A simple formula for estimating the number of vehicles[18]

Calculation procedure	Formula
Number of possible trips per vehicle	${\displaystyle {\frac {Period}{Duration/roundtrip}}}$
Number of loads	${\displaystyle {\frac {Tons}{Capacity/vehicle}}}$
Number of vehicles	${\displaystyle {\frac {Loads}{Trips/Vehicles}}}$

There are three primary types of transport contracts. Each type has distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Automated manifest system (AMS) cards have been used by the United States government to store substantial amounts of information about shipments. The cards have become more popular in humanitarian logistics as they are able to provide various aspects related to:

• Stock number;
• Requisition number;
• Shipment date;
• Quantity;
• Consignee.

The AMS cards are attached to both pallets and containers and inserted to a processing unit which can give all details about a delivery. The use of those cards is beneficial to both shippers and beneficiaries in humanitarian logistics management because beneficiaries can plan resources, especially food and medicines, or find alternatives. Therefore, this application can make the process more flexible and efficient. In addition, AMS cards are cheap, reusable, and resistant to extreme weather.[10]

The tags are useful in identifying information about delivery routes. They are attached to different types of vehicles, including pallets, trucks, vans, and large containers, to position the location of shipments en route. In addition, they can read information when the vehicles pass through points along the route. After that, the information is stored on a label. Together with the AMS cards, they can provide an effective solution to humanitarian logistics to increase its transparency and responsiveness.[20]

One major concern in humanitarian logistics management is the reliability of product sources because the most popularly-procured item is food. In the past, there were cases regarding food unsafety caused by the unclear origins of products. Recently, bar codes have been a feasible solution to address this problem in humanitarian logistics. Bar code labels make it possible to represent alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers) by means of bars and blanks of varying widths that can be read automatically by optical scanners. This system recognizes and processes these symbols, compares their patterns with those already stored in computer memory, and interpret the information. This standardized coding system means that there can be a one-on-one, unique, non-ambiguous relationship between the pattern and that to which it refers. At present, bar codes are mostly used in:

• Product packages;
• Identification cards;
• Catalogs or price lists;
• Product labels;
• Forms, receipts, and invoices.[10]