Hub seaport multimodal freight transport network design: Perspective of regional integration development

Abstract

To design the multimodal freight transport network of regional hub seaports, and promote the high-quality development of regional economic integration. Combined with the principal component analysis method, the comprehensive evaluation value of the inland cities is determined. Meanwhile, the gravity model is used to obtain the correlation degree between non-core cities and core cities, and the hinterlands of these core cities are divided. The entropy weight TOPSIS model is applied to select the inland hinterland transshipment cities. Taking the minimum total transport costs as the objective function, the regional hub seaport multimodal freight transport network optimization model with space-time constraints is established, and solved by MATLAB software. Taking the freight transport from Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone to Yangtze River Delta as an example, a multimodal freight transport network is constructed. It is calculated that Chengdu and Chongqing can be set as freight consolidation centers, and Changsha, Wuhan, Nanchang, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Zhengzhou and Xi'an can be set as transshipment nodes. These non-core cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone can be divided into five groups to achieve effective improvement in transport efficiency through group combined transport. This study gives managerial implications for multimodal transport structure optimization and provides reference for the regional integration development between seaports and hinterlands.