Multi-agent cooperative transport planning of intermodal freight transport

Abstract

This paper proposes a multi-agent cooperative intermodal freight transport planning approach for multiple intermodal freight transport operators (IFTOs) in the control of container flows. The cooperation goal is to minimize the overall freight delivery cost for serving certain transport demands. Based on a distributed model predictive control methodology, a cooperative planning approach is proposed by decomposing the augmented Lagrangian formulation of the joint intermodal freight transport planning problem into subproblems that are then cooperatively solved by the IFTOs through iterative exchange of planning information. A simulation study on cooperative intermodal freight transport planning illustrates the potential of the proposed cooperative planning approach.