OMIT – Manual for environmental calculation of international freight transport
3 User's guide
| 3.1 | Installation and start-up of OMIT |
| 3.1.1 | Start definition |
| 3.1.2 | Copy another transport chain |
| 3.1.3 | Delete former definitions |
| 3.2 | Step 1: Identify transport |
| 3.3 | Step 2: Select Transport Modes |
3.1 Installation and start-up of OMIT
Follow the installation guide, which may include one or two restarts. When OMIT has been installed, the program is opened from the Windows Start menu. Accept macros, and now the calculation can begin from the Excel menu bar by choosing OMIT.
Figure 3.
Excel screen when starting calculation.
There are two ways to make a calculation. Either you start from scratch by choosing "Start definition", or you work on the base of a previous calculation by selecting "Copy another transport chain".
3.1.1 Start definition
If you are going to make a new calculation, select "Start definition". You are lead through the four steps of the program. It is always possible to go back and make changes in the parameters, until you have pressed "Calculate" in step 4. Hereafter you will have to start all over by pressing "Copy another transport chain", if you wish to make changes in the calculation.
The final calculation and the preconditions will be saved as a spreadsheet in the folder "Calc", where the program is saved.
3.1.2 Copy another transport chain
When pressing "Copy another transport chain" you can select from all previous calculations described by: origin and destination, description, weight, volume of goods, date and time of calculation. Hereafter it is possible to change the calculation partially or completely, in any case it will be saved as a new calculation, and the original will not be overwritten.
It is not possible to delete parts of transports in a copied transport chain, but it is possible to add new corridors and distances and to make changes. When you change a transport, e.g. by using another corridor, the succeeding settings of the transport will return to the default values.
The function is good for saving a transport chain for a given customer, and quarterly or yearly it is possible to make an environmental statement based on the updated quantities.
The function can also be used for calculating different examples and see what environmental improvements can be made, e.g. by improving the capacity utilisation.
3.1.3 Delete former definitions
This function deletes the parameters of previous definitions. Thus it is no longer possible to open old calculations by using "Copy another transport chain". The result sheets will, however, still be saved in the file "Calc" and they can only be deleted manually. For documentation of improvements it may be an advantage to save old result sheets in a new file with indication of the year.
3.2 Step 1: Identify transport
Figure 4.
In step one you must state origin and destination of the transport and the
goods weight. Volume may be relevant for truck transport
The program provides the calculation with a sequential number and a date; hence the transport is explicitly described and can be re-opened.
The weight of goods is arbitrary. If it exceeds the limit of a single transport, OMIT will treat it as multiple individual transports.
Statement of volume is important for transport by truck, only if the load weighs less than 333 kg per m3. In that case volume is determinant for the allocation of the environmental load in place of weight.
3.3 Step 2: Select Transport Modes
Figure 5.
In step 2 you must state the transport modes used for the individual part
transports in the chain
There is no limit to the number of part transports, modes of transport to be used or in which order they should enter in the transport chain.
The transport modes to select are:
 | Truck |
| Train |
| Ro-Ro ferry |
| Container ship |
| Bulk carrier. |
OMIT does not check whether or not a transport chain is coherent. It is up to the users to make sure, that the corridors cohere, and that data for the transport modes are realistic and correct.