Interrelations between sea hub ports and inland hinterlands: Perspectives of multimodal freight transport organization and low carbon emissions

Abstract

In 2020, a “dual carbon” goal was proposed by China's government. As a low-pollution and low-consumption transportation organization mode, multimodal freight transport has been highly valued. Strengthening the organization and management of multimodal freight transport between seaports and inland areas is conducive to reducing carbon emission levels and logistics costs in the transportation industry. In the multimodal freight transport network, a reasonable hinterland for the main hub port can effectively avoid homogeneous competition, realize the optimal allocation of transport resources, and promote the integrated and coordinated development of the region. In constructing a multimodal freight transport network and arranging a reasonable organization mode, it is beneficial to divide the hinterland of main hub ports and promote energy conservation and emission reduction in the transportation industry. From the perspective of hinterland division and coordination of transportation organization methods, we construct a 0–1 planning model to minimize total cost, transportation time, and carbon emissions. By combining the nondominated ranking method and ideal point method, the algorithm sifts and reorganizes each transportation mode and path in different cities, thereby further overcoming the subjectivity of the weighting method and obtaining the nondominated Pareto optimal frontier solution set. Finally, the evaluation function is used to determine the optimal scheme. Taking the main hub port in the Yangtze River Delta region as an example to verify the validity of the model and algorithm, this research can provide decision support for departments when they formulate policies related to optimizing the regional transportation structure, can promote regional integration and coordinated development of coastal and inland areas, and has practical significance for the “dual carbon” goal.