Abstract
To mitigate climate relevant air emissions from freight transportation, policy makers stimulate the application of intermodal freight transport chains. The evaluation and selection of intermodal routes based on the key objectives, i.e., greenhouse gas emission, transportation cost and transit time improvements, are the main challenges in the design of intermodal networks. It is the aim of this paper to provide decision support in intermodal freight transportation planning concerning route and carrier choice in transport service design and the assessment of emission abatement potentials. Core of this approach is a capacitated multi-commodity network flow model considering multiple criteria and in-transit inventory. Thereby two processes are modeled, i.e., the transport and transshipment of full truckloads (FTL), to define the material flow of goods through the network. The objective function of the developed network flow model minimizes the number of transported and transshipped FTL assessed by the weighted and normalized criteria (i.e., CO2-equivalents, cost, time) taking into account tied in-transit capital and the distance traveled. Thereby, the model regards carrier and terminal capacities, the option to transfer or either shift the mode and/or change the carrier at predefined terminal transshipment points. The model is incorporated in a decision support system and applied in an example application with industry data from an automotive supplier to demonstrate its application potentials. Within the application among others the potential benefits of the developed optimization model in comparison to a status quo are analyzed. Different criteria weightings and the influence of various levels of in-transit holding costs are investigated. In addition, the introduction of new transportation means such as the Eurocombi is assessed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnold D, Isermann H, Kuhn A, Tempelmeier H, Furmans K (2008) Handbuch logistik, 3rd edn. Springer, Heidelberg
Bauer J, Bektas T, Crainic TG (2010) Minimizing greenhouse gas emissions in intermodal freight transport: an application to rail service design. J Oper Res Soc. doi:10.1057/jors.2009.102
Bektas T, Crainic T (2008) A brief overview of intermodal transportation. In: Taylor GD (ed) Logistics engineering handbook. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 1–16 chapter 28
Bektas T, Laporte G (2011) The pollution-routing problem. Transp Res Part B 45:1232–1250. doi:10.1016/j.trb.2011.02.004
Caris A, Macharis C, Janssens GK (2008) Planning problems in intermodal freight transport: accomplishments and prospects. Transport Plan Tech. doi:10.1080/03081060802086397
Caris A, Macharis C, Janssens GK (2012) Decision support in intermodal transport: a new research agenda. Comput Ind. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2012.12.001
Caris A, Macharis C, Janssens GK (2013) Decision support in intermodal transport: a new research agenda. Comput Ind 64(2013):105–112. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2012.12.001
Chang T-S (2007) Best routes selection in international intermodal networks. Comput Oper Res. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2006.12.025
Christiansen M, Fagerholt K, Nygreen B, Ronen D (2007) Chapter 4 Maritime transportation. In: Barnhart C, Laporte G (eds) Transportation. Handbooks in operations research and management science, vol 14, pp 189–284. doi:10.1016/S0927-0507(06)14004-9
Christopher M (2011) Logistics and supply chain management, 4th edn. Pearson, Edinburgh
Cirovic G, Pamucar D, Bozanic D (2014) Green logistic vehicle routing problem: routing light delivery vehicles in urban areas using a neuro-fuzzy model. Expert Syst Appl 41(2014):4245–4258. doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2014.01.005
Corbett JJ, Winebrake JJ, Hatcher J, Farrel AE (2007) Emissions analysis of freight transport comparing land-side and water-side short-sea routes: development and demonstration of a freight routing and emissions analysis tool (FREAT). US Department of Transportation. http://climate.dot.gov/documents/emissions_analysis_of_freight.pdf. Accessed 29 Dec 2013
Crainic TG (2000) Service network design in freight transportation. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(99)00233-7
Crainic TG (2002) A survey of optimization models for long-haul freight transportation. In: Hall RW (ed) Handbook of Transportation Science, 2nd edn. Kluwer, Boston
Crainic TG, Dejax PJ (1987) Freight distribution and transport systems planning. Logist Inf Manag. doi:10.1108/eb007517
Crainic TG, Kim KH (2007) Intermodal transportation. Handb Oper Res Manag Sci. doi:10.1016/S0927-0507(06)14008-6
Crainic TG, Laporte G (1997) Planning models for freight transportation. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(96)00298-6
Current J, Min H (1986) Multiobjective design of transportation networks: taxonomy and annotation. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(86)90180-3
Dekker R, Bloemhof J, Mallidis I (2012) Operations Research for green logistics: an overview of aspects, issues, contributions and challenges. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2011.11.010
Demir E, Bektas T, Laporte G (2014) The bi-objective pollution-routing problem. Eur J Oper Res 232(2014):464–478. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2013.08.002
Domschke W (1985) Logistik: transport—grundlagen, lineare transport- und umladeprobleme. Oldenbourg, Munich
Dorfman R (1960) Operations Research. Am Econ Rev 50:575–623
EC (2013) EU transport in figures: statistical pocket book 2013. European Union, Luxembourg
EcoTransIT (2011) Ecological transport information tool for worldwide transports. http://www.ecotransit.org/download/ecotransit_background_report.pdf. Accessed 29 Dec 2013
EEA (2012) Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012: an indicator-based report. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen
Floden J (2007) Modelling intermodal freight transport: the potential of combined transport in Sweden. Dissertation, University of Gothenburg
Franceschetti A, Honhon D, Van Woensel T, Bektaş T, Laporte G (2013) The time-dependent pollution-routing problem. Transp Res Part B Methodol 56(10):265–293. doi:10.1016/j.trb.2013.08.008
Froehling M, Zimmer K, Schultmann F (2013) A case study on route and haulier choice considering carbon emissions. Working paper, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Geldermann J (2006) Mehrzielentscheidung in der industriellen Produktion. University Press Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe
Ghiani G, Laporte G, Musmanno R (2004) Introduction to logistics systems planning and control. Wiley, Chichester
Goetschalckx M (2011) Supply chain engineering. Springer, London
Goetschalckx M, Vidal CJ, Dogan K (2002) Modeling and design of global logistics systems: a review of integrated strategic and tactical models and design algorithms. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(02)00142-X
Gross WF, Hayden C, Butz C (2012) About the impact of rising oil price on logistics networks and transportation greenhouse gas emission. Log Res 4:147–156
Gudehus T (2011) Logistik: Grundlagen—Strategien—Anwendungen, 4th edn. Springer, Heidelberg
Helmreich S, Keller H (2011) Freightvision: sustainable European freight transport 2050. Springer, Heidelberg
Hoen KMR, Tan T, Fransoo JC, van Houtum GJ (2011) Switching transport modes to meet voluntary carbon emission targets. Flex Serv Manuf J. doi:10.1007/s10696-012-9151-6
Hoen KMR, Tan T, Fransoo JC, van Houtum GJ (2012) Effect of carbon emission regulations on transport mode selection under stochastic demand. Flex Serv Manuf J. doi:10.1007/s10696-012-9151-6
Hoff A, Andersson H, Christiansed M, Hasle G, Lokkerangen A (2010) Industrial aspects and literature survey: fleet composition and routing. Comput Oper Res. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2010.03.015
Janic M, Regglani A, Nijkamp P (1999) Sustainability of the European freight transport system: evaluation of innovative bundling networks. Transp Plan Technol. doi:10.1080/03081069908717644
Kallrath J, Wilson JM (1997) Business Optimisation Using Mathematical Programming. Macmillan, Basingstoke
Kranke A, Schmied M, Schön A (2011) CO2-Berechnung in der Logistik. Vogel, Munich
Kumar S (2008) Inventory logistics cost analysis model for the proposed EU intermodal loading unit: a business case. Inf Knowl Syst Manag 7:335–355
Laporte G (2013) Scheduling issues in vehicle routing. Ann Oper Res. doi:10.1007/s10479-013-1423-3
Macharis C, Bontekoning YM (2004) Opportunities for OR in intermodal freight transport research: a review. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00161-9
Meixel MJ, Norbis M (2008) A review of the transportation mode choice and carrier selection literature. Int J Logist Manag. doi:10.1108/09574090810895951
Min H (1990) International intermodal choices via chance-constrained goal programming. Transp Res. doi:10.1016/0191-2607(91)90013-G
Riekst BQ, Ventura JA (2008) Optimal inventory policies with two modes of freight transportation. Euro J Oper Res. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2007.01.042
Seiler T (2012) Operative transportation planning: solutions in consumer goods supply chains. Dissertation, Technical University of Berlin
SteadieSeifi M, Dellaert NP, Nuijten W, Van Woensel T, Raoufi R (2014) Multimodal freight transportation planning: a literature review. Eur J Oper Res 233(2014):1–15. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2013.06.055
Yaghini M, Akhavan R (2012) Multicommodity Network Design Problem in Rail Freight Transportation Planning. Procedia- Soc Behav Sci. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.04.146
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the editor and three anonymous referees for their most valuable and constructive comments which helped to improve the article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rudi, A., Fröhling, M., Zimmer, K. et al. Freight transportation planning considering carbon emissions and in-transit holding costs: a capacitated multi-commodity network flow model. EURO J Transp Logist 5, 123–160 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13676-014-0062-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13676-014-0062-4