A Competitive Analysis of Chinese Coal Transport Routes in Intermodal Transport Network

Abstract

The imbalance between coal production area and coal consumption area makes coal transport important to the development of coal industry. This paper analyzes different modes of coal transport including railway, railway-water and import, and constructs a generalized cost function of coal transportation. The competitiveness of different modes are studied through a case, and the result shows: the consumption price of coal under railway, railway-water and by import is respectively affected by the distance between consumption area and productive area, the distance between ports and consumption area, and the distance between import ports and consumption area; when railway freight rate increases, the market share of import increases, and the market share of railway and water-railway decreases; when water transportation freight rate increases, the market share railway and import increases, and the market share of water-railway decreases.