Abstract
We study the problem of the integrated scheduling of drayage operations and long-haul transport in synchromodality. Although different in time span and characteristics of execution, these two processes have an impact on each other and their interaction has a direct influence on the overall performance of the transport network over time. We propose a simulation based integration of a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model for the drayage operations and a Markov Decision Process model for the long-haul transport. We analyze the interfaces between these models, outline the challenges of integrating them, and design a heuristic approach to the simulation based integration. In a series of numerical experiments, we evaluate the cost savings compared to a non-integrated approach, using various transport network configurations. We show that our approach achieves average cost savings between 4 and 24% on networks with a majority of pre-haulage freights. Furthermore, we discuss limitations of our model and experiments, and provide guidelines for further research for the integrated scheduling of drayage and long-haul operations in synchromodal transport.
Highlights
In recent years, the freight transport industry has faced the challenge of reducing the environmental impact of their operations while staying profitable
We studied the relation between scheduling decisions, timing, and network-wide performance of drayage and long-haul operations in synchromodal transport considering stochastic demand and multiple freight characteristics
We analyzed the impact of our approach on the individual scheduling policies of drayage operations and long-haul transport, and how the performance of our approach can iteratively be improved
Summary
The freight transport industry has faced the challenge of reducing the environmental impact of their operations while staying profitable. To tackle this challenge, Logistic Service Providers (LSPs) have been re-defining performance. One of the new perspectives on performance measurement and control of freight transport operations over a multi-modal network is synchromodality. Freight can be assigned to any mode and any transfer terminal available in the transport network. This increased flexibility provides LSPs with more opportunities for consolidation and options for efficient transport, throughout the network and throughout time. We study a network-wide and multi-period decision problem in synchromodality: the integrated scheduling of drayage operations and long-haul transport
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