IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/tprsxx/v57y2019i6p1606-1623.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards freight transport system unification: reviewing and combining the advancements in the physical internet and synchromodal transport research

Author

Listed:
  • Tomas Ambra
  • An Caris
  • Cathy Macharis

Abstract

To achieve socio-economic and environmental sustainability, utilization of existing capacities and assets has become a key challenge for the transportation sector. This challenge has been recognised by many scholars, policy makers and practitioners leading to a substantial body of new concepts and models. The rather parallel evolution of the Physical Internet (PI) and synchromodal transport presents an opportunity to improve the current unsustainable freight transportation, by inducing a positive modal shift from roads to rails and inland waterways, and improving service levels by better connecting production research with freight movement. This paper thus examines the synchromodal and PI state-of-the-art models together with their designs, methodologies and findings proposed in the scientific literature. The main objective is to assess and explore the correlations between these two concepts in order to understand how they can reinforce each other. Despite the integrated vision of the Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe, the findings of this paper yield no well-established interconnections in the scientific literature between PI and synchromodality as they both merely coexist in parallel and address different dimensions, scales and levels of abstraction. This paper thus identifies potential synergies, future research directions and critical questions to be considered by modellers, developers and policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomas Ambra & An Caris & Cathy Macharis, 2019. "Towards freight transport system unification: reviewing and combining the advancements in the physical internet and synchromodal transport research," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(6), pages 1606-1623, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:57:y:2019:i:6:p:1606-1623
    DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2018.1494392
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00207543.2018.1494392
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00207543.2018.1494392?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Crainic, Teodor Gabriel & Perboli, Guido & Rei, Walter & Rosano, Mariangela & Lerma, Veronica, 2024. "Capacity planning with uncertainty on contract fulfillment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 314(1), pages 152-175.
    2. Vanessa Rodríguez Cornejo & Ángel Cervera Paz & Luis López Molina & Víctor Pérez-Fernández, 2020. "Lean Thinking to Foster the Transition from Traditional Logistics to the Physical Internet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Taherkhani, Gita & Bilegan, Ioana C. & Crainic, Teodor Gabriel & Gendreau, Michel & Rei, Walter, 2022. "Tactical capacity planning in an integrated multi-stakeholder freight transportation system," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Badri GECHBAIA & Amiran TSILOSANI, 2023. "Prospects for intermodal and container transportation for Georgia's integration into the global transport market," Access Journal, Access Press Publishing House, vol. 4(1), pages 85-101, October.
    5. Marta Gonzalez-Aregall & Kevin Cullinane & Inge Vierth, 2021. "A Review of Port Initiatives to Promote Freight Modal Shifts in Europe: Evidence from Port Governance Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    6. Sakti, Sekar & Zhang, Lele & Thompson, Russell G., 2023. "Synchronization in synchromodality," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    7. Elena Plotnikova & Milita Vienažindienė & Stasys Slavinskas, 2022. "Development of Inland Waterway Transport as a Key to Ensure Sustainability: A Case Study of Lithuania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Yavas, Volkan & Ozkan-Ozen, Yesim Deniz, 2020. "Logistics centers in the new industrial era: A proposed framework for logistics center 4.0," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    9. 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).
    10. Shenle Pan & Damien Trentesaux & Duncan Mcfarlane & Benoit Montreuil & Eric Ballot & George Huang, 2021. "Digital interoperability in logistics and supply chain management: state-of-the-art and research avenues towards Physical Internet," Post-Print hal-03161524, HAL.
    11. Chargui, Tarik & Ladier, Anne-Laure & Bekrar, Abdelghani & Pan, Shenle & Trentesaux, Damien, 2022. "Towards designing and operating physical internet cross-docks: Problem specifications and research perspectives," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    12. Bart Van Riessen & Judith Mulder & Rudy R. Negenborn & Rommert Dekker, 2021. "Revenue management with two fare classes in synchromodal container transportation," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 623-662, September.
    13. Johannes Rentschler & Ralf Elbert & Felix Weber, 2022. "Promoting Sustainability through Synchromodal Transportation: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Fields of Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Leung, Eric K.H. & Lee, Carmen Kar Hang & Ouyang, Zhiyuan, 2022. "From traditional warehouses to Physical Internet hubs: A digital twin-based inbound synchronization framework for PI-order management," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    15. Pan, Fei & Pan, Shenle & Zhou, Wei & Fan, Tijun, 2022. "Perishable product bundling with logistics uncertainty: Solution based on physical internet," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    16. Björk, Lisa & Vierth, Inge & Cullinane, Kevin, 2023. "Freight modal shift: A means or an objective in achieving lower emission targets? The case of Sweden," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 125-136.
    17. Hafiz Wasim Akram & Samreen Akhtar & Alam Ahmad & Imran Anwar & Mohammad Ali Bait Ali Sulaiman, 2023. "Developing a Conceptual Framework Model for Effective Perishable Food Cold-Supply-Chain Management Based on Structured Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    18. Tarik Chargui & Anne-Laure Ladier & Abdelghani Bekrar & Shenle Pan & Damien Trentesaux, 2022. "Towards designing and operating Physical Internet cross-docks: problem specifications and research perspectives," Post-Print hal-03624314, HAL.
    19. Gohari, Adel & Ahmad, Anuar Bin & Balasbaneh, Ali Tighnavard & Gohari, Ali & Hasan, Razi & Sholagberu, Abdulkadir Taofeeq, 2022. "Significance of intermodal freight modal choice criteria: MCDM-based decision support models and SP-based modal shift policies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 46-60.
    20. Tan, Bing Qing & Xu, Su Xiu & Kang, Kai & Xu, Gangyan & Qin, Wei, 2021. "A reverse Vickrey auction for physical internet (PI) enabled parking management systems," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    21. Milad Bagheri & Ku Azam Tuan Lonik & Mastura Jaafar & Radziah Adam & Wan Izatul Asma Wan Talaat & Isabelle D. Wolf, 2022. "Integrating Social, Economic, and Environmental Factors to Evaluate How Competitive Urban Landscapes Are for the Development of Sustainable Cities: Penang Island in Malaysia as a Case Study," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    22. Hilde Heggen & Yves Molenbruch & An Caris & Kris Braekers, 2019. "Intermodal Container Routing: Integrating Long-Haul Routing and Local Drayage Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-36, March.
    23. Fan Bu & Heather Nachtmann, 2023. "Literature review and comparative analysis of inland waterways transport: “Container on Barge”," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(1), pages 140-173, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:tprsxx:v:57:y:2019:i:6:p:1606-1623. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TPRS20 .

    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.