IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i4p990-d206001.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Design and Freight Corridor-Fleet Size Choice in Collaborative Intermodal Transportation Network Considering Economies of Scale

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Liu

    (School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, Shaanxi, China
    Freight Mobility Research Institute, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA)

  • Zhenghong Deng

    (School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710064, Shaanxi, China)

  • Qipeng Sun

    (School of Economics and Management; Economics and management research center for integrated transportation, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, Shaanxi, China)

  • Yong Wang

    (School of Economics and Management, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China)

  • Yinhai Wang

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA)

Abstract

Decentralized freight decision has been proved to be one of the inhibitors to achieve a sustainable transport network. One important method also a key challenge is to determine how to coordinate and consolidate the transportation flow to get the best logistics performance. This study presents an intermodal transportation network considering freight consolidation through freight forwarders’ cooperation. We formulate the problem as a minimum intermodal transport cost model, which is a nonlinear, nonconvex and discontinuous function that involves volume economies of scale, distance economies of scale and vehicle size economies of scale. A hybrid genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm in combination with a batch strategy are used to solve the problem. Five different transport demand scenarios are tested on a real case on “China Railway Express” (Crexpress). The choices of reasonably corridor and fleet size combination are provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Liu & Zhenghong Deng & Qipeng Sun & Yong Wang & Yinhai Wang, 2019. "Design and Freight Corridor-Fleet Size Choice in Collaborative Intermodal Transportation Network Considering Economies of Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:4:p:990-:d:206001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/4/990/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/4/990/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Álvarez-SanJaime, Óscar & Cantos-Sánchez, Pedro & Moner-Colonques, Rafael & Sempere-Monerris, José J., 2013. "Competition and horizontal integration in maritime freight transport," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 67-81.
    2. Cruijssen, F. & Salomon, M., 2004. "Empirical Study : Order Sharing Between Transportation Companies may Result in Cost Reductions Between 5 to 15 Percent," Discussion Paper 2004-80, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    3. Alf Kimms, 2006. "Economies of Scale in Hub & Spoke Network Design Models: We Have It All Wrong," Springer Books, in: Martin Morlock & Christoph Schwindt & Norbert Trautmann & Jürgen Zimmermann (ed.), Perspectives on Operations Research, pages 293-317, Springer.
    4. Limbourg, S. & Jourquin, B., 2009. "Optimal rail-road container terminal locations on the European network," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 551-563, July.
    5. Lotte Verdonck & AN Caris & Katrien Ramaekers & Gerrit K. Janssens, 2013. "Collaborative Logistics from the Perspective of Road Transportation Companies," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 700-719, November.
    6. M A Krajewska & H Kopfer & G Laporte & S Ropke & G Zaccour, 2008. "Horizontal cooperation among freight carriers: request allocation and profit sharing," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(11), pages 1483-1491, November.
    7. Yi-Kuei Lin & Cheng-Fu Huang & Yi-Chieh Liao & Chih-Ching Yeh, 2017. "System reliability for a multistate intermodal logistics network with time windows," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1957-1969, April.
    8. Konings, J. W., 1996. "Integrated centres for the transshipment, storage, collection and distribution of goods : A survey of the possibilities for a high-quality intermodal transport concept," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 3(1-2), pages 3-11.
    9. Anny-del-Mar Agamez-Arias & José Moyano-Fuentes, 2017. "Intermodal transport in freight distribution: a literature review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6), pages 782-807, November.
    10. Janic, Milan, 2008. "An assessment of the performance of the European long intermodal freight trains (LIFTS)," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 1326-1339, December.
    11. Kim, Nam Seok & Van Wee, Bert, 2011. "The relative importance of factors that influence the break-even distance of intermodal freight transport systems," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 859-875.
    12. Racunica, Illia & Wynter, Laura, 2005. "Optimal location of intermodal freight hubs," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 453-477, June.
    13. Kreutzberger, Ekki D., 2008. "Distance and time in intermodal goods transport networks in Europe: A generic approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 973-993, August.
    14. Richa Agarwal & Özlem Ergun, 2010. "Network Design and Allocation Mechanisms for Carrier Alliances in Liner Shipping," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(6), pages 1726-1742, December.
    15. Nam Seok Kim & Byungkyu Park & Kang-Dae Lee, 2016. "A knowledge based freight management decision support system incorporating economies of scale: multimodal minimum cost flow optimization approach," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 81-94, March.
    16. Jara-Díaz, Sergio R. & Basso, Leonardo J., 2003. "Transport cost functions, network expansion and economies of scope," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 271-288, July.
    17. Groothedde, Bas & Ruijgrok, Cees & Tavasszy, Lóri, 2005. "Towards collaborative, intermodal hub networks: A case study in the fast moving consumer goods market," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 567-583, November.
    18. Chen, Haoxun, 2016. "Combinatorial clock-proxy exchange for carrier collaboration in less than truck load transportation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 152-172.
    19. SteadieSeifi, M. & Dellaert, N.P. & Nuijten, W. & Van Woensel, T. & Raoufi, R., 2014. "Multimodal freight transportation planning: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 233(1), pages 1-15.
    20. Cruijssen, F. & Salomon, M., 2004. "Empirical Study : Order Sharing Between Transportation Companies may Result in Cost Reductions Between 5 to 15 Percent," Other publications TiSEM 308c6567-826b-4471-9105-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Dan & Kaisar, Evangelos I. & Yang, Yang & Yan, Pengyu, 2022. "Physical Internet-enabled E-grocery delivery Network:A load-dependent two-echelon vehicle routing problem with mixed vehicles," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    2. Jiahao Zhao & Xiaoning Zhu & Li Wang, 2020. "Study on Scheme of Outbound Railway Container Organization in Rail-Water Intermodal Transportation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Tomasz Rokicki & Luiza Ochnio & Piotr Borawski & Aneta Beldycka-Borawska & Agata Zak, 2021. "Development of Intermodal Transport in the EU Countries," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4B), pages 300-308.
    4. Boqing Wang & Jiajun Li & Fan Jiang, 2024. "Road–Rail Intermodal Travel Mode Choice Behavior Considering Attitude Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Liu, Dan & Yan, Pengyu & Pu, Ziyuan & Wang, Yinhai & Kaisar, Evangelos I., 2021. "Hybrid artificial immune algorithm for optimizing a Van-Robot E-grocery delivery system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Xiaolin Chu & Dong Yang & Jia Li, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power Systems under Carbon Emission Regulations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meisel, Frank & Kirschstein, Thomas & Bierwirth, Christian, 2013. "Integrated production and intermodal transportation planning in large scale production–distribution-networks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 62-78.
    2. Ralf Elbert & Lowis Seikowsky, 2017. "The influences of behavioral biases, barriers and facilitators on the willingness of forwarders’ decision makers to modal shift from unimodal road freight transport to intermodal road–rail freight tra," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(8), pages 1083-1123, November.
    3. Lotte Verdonck & Katrien Ramaekers & Benoît Depaire & An Caris & Gerrit K. Janssens, 2019. "Analysing the Effect of Partner Characteristics on the Performance of Horizontal Carrier Collaborations," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 583-609, June.
    4. Martine Mostert & An Caris & Sabine Limbourg, 2018. "Intermodal network design: a three-mode bi-objective model applied to the case of Belgium," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 397-420, September.
    5. Nassim Mrabti & Nadia Hamani & Laurent Delahoche, 2022. "A Comprehensive Literature Review on Sustainable Horizontal Collaboration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-38, September.
    6. Bouchery, Yann & Woxenius, Johan & Fransoo, Jan C., 2020. "Identifying the market areas of port-centric logistics and hinterland intermodal transportation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(2), pages 599-611.
    7. Gansterer, Margaretha & Hartl, Richard F., 2018. "Collaborative vehicle routing: A survey," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(1), pages 1-12.
    8. Zhang, M. & Janic, M. & Tavasszy, L.A., 2015. "A freight transport optimization model for integrated network, service, and policy design," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 61-76.
    9. Fateme Fotuhi & Nathan Huynh, 2017. "Reliable Intermodal Freight Network Expansion with Demand Uncertainties and Network Disruptions," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 405-433, June.
    10. Thomas Hacardiaux & Jean-Sébastien Tancrez, 2022. "Assessing the benefits of horizontal cooperation for the various stages of the supply chain," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3901-3924, September.
    11. Yilmaz, Ozhan & Savasaneril, Secil, 2012. "Collaboration among small shippers in a transportation market," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 218(2), pages 408-415.
    12. Qian Dai & Jiaqi Yang & Dong Li, 2018. "Modeling a Three-Mode Hybrid Port-Hinterland Freight Intermodal Distribution Network with Environmental Consideration: The Case of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-26, August.
    13. Zhang, M. & Pel, A.J., 2016. "Synchromodal hinterland freight transport: Model study for the port of Rotterdam," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-10.
    14. De Moor, Bram J. & Creemers, Stefan & Boute, Robert N., 2023. "Breaking truck dominance in supply chains: Proactive freight consolidation and modal split transport," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    15. Alumur, Sibel A. & Kara, Bahar Y. & Karasan, Oya E., 2012. "Multimodal hub location and hub network design," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 927-939.
    16. Fernández, Elena & Roca-Riu, Mireia & Speranza, M. Grazia, 2018. "The Shared Customer Collaboration Vehicle Routing Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(3), pages 1078-1093.
    17. Arslan, Okan & Archetti, Claudia & Jabali, Ola & Laporte, Gilbert & Grazia Speranza, Maria, 2020. "Minimum cost network design in strategic alliances," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    18. Ishfaq, Rafay & Sox, Charles R., 2011. "Hub location-allocation in intermodal logistic networks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 213-230, April.
    19. Basallo-Triana, Mario José & Bravo-Bastidas, Juan José & Contreras, Ivan & Cordeau, Jean-François & Vidal-Holguín, Carlos Julio, 2023. "Intermodal hub network design with generalized capacity constraints and non-synchronized train–truck operations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    20. Lai, Minghui & Cai, Xiaoqiang & Li, Xiang, 2017. "Mechanism design for collaborative production-distribution planning with shipment consolidation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 137-159.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:4:p:990-:d:206001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.