Road and intermodal transport performance: the impact of operational costs and air pollution external costs

peer reviewedThe transportation of goods is essential for the economy, but it also contributes to air pollution which, in turn, affects human health. These negative impacts generate additional costs for society that are not necessarily taken into account in public transportation policies and in private transportation decisions of companies and individuals. This leads to inefficient transportation systems where the social equilibrium is not reached. Intermodal transport is promoted by the European Commission to reduce these negative externalities. The objective of this paper is to analyze at a strategic level the effect on modal split between road, intermodal rail and intermodal inland waterway transport of several economic or environmental policies. An intermodal allocation model is applied to the Belgian case in order to identify the modal split changes between the single minimization of costs (operational or health-related external) and the introduction of additional road taxes

The development of river-based intermodal transport: the case of Ukraine

It should be noted that the (inland waterway transport) IWT in Ukraine currently is in its infancy in comparison with other land based transport means (rail and road) and with other countries that possess navigable rivers. This paper is an extension of the research initiated by Grushevska and Notteboom (2015) where the concepts of intermediacy and centrality were introduced in order to assess the role of Ukraine in the global and regional transport networks. The list of key obstacles for Ukraine’s intermediacy function included IWT related barriers such as: (i) deficient inland waterway infrastructure, (ii) high IWT costs (fees for bridges, locks etc.) and (iii) pilotage charges. To date the transportation to/from ports is mainly fulfilled by road or by rail based multimodal transport solutions. We present the unutilized potential of Ukrainian IWT that needs to be efficiently exploited for the benefit of the national economy and national transport system. This study intends to enrich the limited academic research on IWT systems in a transition stage, as exemplified by the case of Ukraine

Intermodal Network Design and Expansion for Freight Transportation

Over the last 50 years, international trade has grown considerably, and this growth has strained the global supply chains and their underlying support infrastructures. Consequently, shippers and receivers have to look for more efficient ways to transport their goods. In recent years, intermodal transport is becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to shippers, and this trend is likely to continue as governmental agencies are considering policies to induce a freight modal shift from road to intermodal to alleviate highway congestion and emissions. Intermodal freight transport involves using more than one mode, and thus, it is a more complex transport process. The factors that affect the overall efficiency of intermodal transport include, but not limited to: 1) cost of each mode, 2) trip time of each mode, 3) transfer time to another mode, and 4) location of that transfer (intermodal terminal). One of the reasons for the inefficiencies in intermodal freight transportation is the lack of planning on where to locate intermodal facilities in the transportation network and which infrastructure to expand to accommodate growth. This dissertation focuses on the intermodal network design problem and it extends previous works in three aspects: 1) address competition among intermodal service providers, 2) incorporate uncertainty of demand and supply in the design, and 3) incorporate multi-period planning into investment decisions. The following provides an overview of the works that have been completed in this dissertation. This work formulated robust optimization models for the problem of finding near-optimal locations for new intermodal terminals and their capacities for a railroad company, which operates an intermodal network in a competitive environment with uncertain demands. To solve the robust models, a Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm was developed. Experimental results indicated that the SA solutions (i.e. objective function values) are comparable to those obtained using GAMS, but the SA algorithm can obtain solutions faster and can solve much larger problems. Also, the results verified that solutions obtained from the robust models are more effective in dealing with uncertain demand scenarios. In a second study, a robust Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP) was developed to assist railroad operators with intermodal network expansion decisions. Specifically, the objective of the model was to identify critical rail links to retrofit, locations to establish new terminals, and existing terminals to expand, where the intermodal freight network is subject to demand and supply uncertainties. Addition considerations by the model included a finite overall budget for investment, limited capacities on network links and at intermodal terminals, and due dates for shipments. A hybrid genetic algorithm was developed to solve the proposed MILP. It utilized a column generation algorithm for freight flow assignment and a shortest path labeling algorithm for routing decisions. Experimental results indicated that the developed algorithm can produce optimal solutions efficiently for both small-sized and large-sized intermodal freight networks. The results also verified that the developed model outperformed the traditional network design model with no uncertainty in terms of total network cost. The last study investigated the impact of multi-period approach in intermodal network expansion and routing decisions. A multi-period network design model was proposed to find when and where to locate new terminals, expand existing terminals and retrofit weaker links of the network over an extended planning period. Unlike the traditional static model, the planning horizon was divided into multiple periods in the multi-period model with different time scales for routing and design decisions. Expansion decisions were subject to budget constraints, demand uncertainty and network disruptions. A hybrid Simulated Annealing algorithm was developed to solve this NP-hard model. Model and algorithm’s application were investigated with two numerical case studies. The results verified the superiority of the multi-period model versus the single-period one in terms of total transportation cost and capacity utilization

Integration of inland waterway transport in the intermodal supply chain: a taxonomy of research challenges

This paper identifies research opportunities which will enable the further integration of inland waterway transport in the intermodal supply chain. Intermodal transport may be interpreted as a chain of actors who supply a transport service. Inland navigation can play a crucial role in increasing supply chain service performance. A first group of research challenges lies in the evolving relationship between transport geography and logistics activities. The next set of research challenges has the objective to encourage efficient operations in IWT: development of a system wide model for IWT, integration of operational planning systems and analysis of bundling networks. A third group of research efforts is directed towards shippers and consignees who use the intermodal transport chain to send or receive their goods: further development of models that integrate intermodal transport decisions with supply chain decisions and creation of green supply chains. A fourth cluster of research challenges concerns the problem domain of external cost calculations. Finally detailed time series data on freight transport should be collected to support these future research tracks

Green intermodal freight transportation: bi-objective modeling and analysis

Efficient planning of freight transportation requires a comprehensive look at wide range of factors in the operation and management of any transportation mode to achieve safe, fast, and environmentally suitable movement of goods. In this regard, a combination of transportation modes offers flexible and environmentally friendly alternatives to transport high volumes of goods over long distances. In order to reflect the advantages of each transportation mode, it is the challenge to develop models and algorithms in Transport Management System software packages. This paper discusses the principles of green logistics required in designing such models and algorithms which truly represent multiple modes and their characteristics. Thus, this research provides a unique practical contribution to green logistics literature by advancing our understanding of the multi-objective planning in intermodal freight transportation. Analysis based on a case study from hinterland intermodal transportation in Europe is therefore intended to make contributions to the literature about the potential benefits from combining economic and environmental criteria in transportation planning. An insight derived from the experiments conducted shows that there is no need to greatly compromise on transportation costs in order to achieve a significant reduction in carbon-related emissions

Modeling the Multicommodity Multimodal Routing Problem with Schedule-Based Services and Carbon Dioxide Emission Costs

We explore a freight routing problem wherein the aim is to assign optimal routes to move commodities through a multimodal transportation network. This problem belongs to the operational level of service network planning. The following formulation characteristics will be comprehensively considered: (1) multicommodity flow routing; (2) a capacitated multimodal transportation network with schedule-based rail services and time-flexible road services; (3) carbon dioxide emissions consideration; and (4) a generalized costs optimum oriented to customer demands. The specific planning of freight routing is thus defined as a capacitated time-sensitive multicommodity multimodal generalized shortest path problem. To solve this problem systematically, we first establish a node-arc-based mixed integer nonlinear programming model that combines the above formulation characteristics in a comprehensive manner. Then, we develop a linearization method to transform the proposed model into a linear one. Finally, a computational experiment from the Chinese inland container export business is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the model and linearization method. The computational results indicate that implementing the proposed model and linearization method in the mathematical programming software Lingo can effectively solve the large-scale practical multicommodity multimodal transportation routing problem

The sensitivity of optimal rail‐road terminal locations to intermodal freight costs variations

In the last decades, the market of goods became globalized, increasing international trade relations and the demand for long distance transportation. As a consequence of the larger distances traveled and of the containerization of goods, maritime transportation became more efficient and reliable. In the hinterland, intermodal (rail-road) freight transportation emerged as a competitive alternative to truck-only transportation. In one of its possible meanings, intermodal freight transportation is the multimodal chain of container-transportation services [1] that, e.g., brings containers from (or to) the seaport by barge or rail to (or from) an intermodal terminal in the hinterland from where they are shipped by truck to their final destination (or origin). This study focus on inland intermodal freight transport, in particular, on the rail–truck transport of cargo containers in Belgium. This European country has a long rail system and in the last years has readapted this system in order to handle with containerized cargo. Since 2004, some rail-road terminals have been built and new intermodal services between the seaports of Belgium have been established. In addition, with the aim of promoting the modal share of intermodal rail-road transport, the federal government of Belgium started subsidizing part of the rail transport cost and of the transshipments costs at the rail-road terminals. With these investments the intermodal freight flows in Belgium have increased

The Selection of Intermodal Transport System Scenarios in the Function of Southeastern Europe Regional Development

The development of intermodal transportation (IT) systems is of vital importance for the sustainability of logistics activities. The existing research point at individual directions of action for system improvement and increase of IT participation in overall transportation, thus reducing negative impacts of logistics on sustainability. However, there is a lack of research defining complex scenarios that unite existing ideas and concepts of IT system development and improvement. Accordingly, this article deals with the definition and selection of the most appropriate IT development scenario for the region of Southeastern Europe. Six different potential scenarios that differ in the network configuration, the required level of logistics infrastructure development, the role of different IT terminal categories, the involvement of different transportation modes, and goods flows’ transformation degree, are defined. The scenarios are analyzed according to four stakeholder groups and twelve defined criteria. A novel hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model, based on fuzzy Delphi, fuzzy Factor Relationship (FARE), and fuzzy Measurement of Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution (MARCOS) methods, is developed for solving the problem. The definition and analysis of the problem, the way of establishing the scenarios, as well as the development of a novel hybrid model are the main contributions of this article. A significant contribution is also the consideration of the Dry Port (DP) concept for the first time in the context of river ports. The results indicate that the scenario referring to the development of the IT core network with the Danube DP terminals is potentially the most appropriate scenario for the Southeastern Europe IT system