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Price and frequency competition in freight transportation

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  • Shah, Nilopa
  • Brueckner, Jan K.

Abstract

This paper develops a simple analytical model of price and frequency competition among freight carriers. In the model, the full price faced by a shipper (a goods producer) includes the actual shipping price plus an inventory holding cost, which is inversely proportional to the frequency of shipments offered by the freight carrier. Taking brand loyalty on the part of shippers into account, competing freight carriers maximize profit by setting prices, frequencies and vehicle carrying capacities. Assuming tractable functional forms, long- and short-run comparative-static results are derived to show how the choice variables are affected by the model’s parameters. The paper also provides an efficiency analysis, comparing the equilibrium to the social optimum, and it attempts to explain the phenomenon of excess capacity in the freight industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Shah, Nilopa & Brueckner, Jan K., 2012. "Price and frequency competition in freight transportation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 938-953.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:46:y:2012:i:6:p:938-953
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2012.02.014
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    2. Feng, Fenling & Zhang, Jiaqi & Liu, Chengguang, 2023. "Integrated pricing mechanism of China Railway Express whole-process logistics based on the Stackelberg game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 609(C).
    3. Brueckner, Jan K. & Luo, Dan, 2014. "Measuring strategic firm interaction in product-quality choices: The case of airline flight frequency," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 102-115.
    4. Abate, Megersa & de Jong, Gerard, 2014. "The optimal shipment size and truck size choice – The allocation of trucks across hauls," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 262-277.
    5. Tamannaei, Mohammad & Zarei, Hamid & Rasti-Barzoki, Morteza, 2021. "A game theoretic approach to sustainable freight transportation: Competition between road and intermodal road–rail systems with government intervention," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 272-295.
    6. Zhong, Huiling & Zhang, Fa & Gu, Yimiao, 2021. "A Stackelberg game based two-stage framework to make decisions of freight rate for container shipping lines in the emerging blockchain-based market," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    7. Mingzhu Yu & Ruina Yang & Zelong Yi & Xuwen Cong, 2020. "Contracting in Ocean Shipping Market Under Asymmetric Information," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 37(02), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Florent Laroche & Ayana Lamatkhanova, 2020. "Effects of open access competition on prices and frequencies on the interurban railway market: evidence from Europe," Working Papers halshs-02930864, HAL.
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