Review of intermodal freight transportation in humanitarian logistics

Mustafa Alp Ertem,Melike İşbilir,Ayşenur Şahin Arslan

doi:10.1007/s12544-017-0226-z

Mustafa Alp Ertem, Melike İşbilir + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12544-017-0226-z

Copy DOI

Abstract

PurposeUsing intermodal transportation is vital for the delivery of relief supplies when single mode alternative becomes unusable or infeasible. The objective of this paper is to investigate the use of intermodal freight transportation in humanitarian logistics.MethodsThis paper first identifies the differences between multimodal and intermodal transportation. Then, we examine the use of each transportation mode for specific disaster types and phases. When combinations of transportation modes (i.e. air, road, rail and sea) for intermodal transportation are considered together with different disaster types (e.g. earthquake, flood and famine), the feasible decision space becomes rather large. To explore this decision space, we have reviewed the academic and practitioner studies as well as several non-governmental organizations (NGO)’ disaster archives.ResultsFrom this exploration, we developed a transportation mode/disaster-type combination matrix and a transportation mode/disaster-phase combination matrix. We then discuss examples of real life usage of intermodal transportation in humanitarian logistics and share our findings and analyses. Of 369 academic humanitarian logistics articles, only 20 have mentioned transportation mode changes. In practitioner studies, we found a decreasing percentage of the usage of slower modes (e.g. sea and rail) in the disaster response phase over time. We were not able to find a significant relationship between a specific transportation mode and a specific disaster-type or -phase. Road transportation seems to cover most of the disaster operations regardless of the disaster-type or -phase.ConclusionsWe can conclude that intermodality and the transportation unit concept is not being studied extensively in humanitarian logistics. Most of the relief organizations do not share transported freight amounts in their reports and those that do share transported freight amounts in their reports do not explicitly mention mode changes. We discuss the enablers of and obstacles to the effective use of intermodal transportation in humanitarian logistics and propose future research directions. We anticipate that intermodal transportation in humanitarian logistics will garner greater research attention and increased utilization in coming years.

Highlights

The number of natural and man-made disasters has been increasing in recent years and these disasters have affected many people
By searching the keywords ‘humanitarian logistics’ OR ‘emergency management’ OR ‘emergency transportation’ AND ‘intermodal transportation’ OR ‘multimodal transportation’ OR ‘intermodal freight transportation’, we found seven recent studies related to multimodal and/or intermodal transportation
We found that 145 of the 369 academic articles related to humanitarian logistics addressed topics such as evacuation, relief supplies distribution, resource allocation, facility location and inventory

Summary

Introduction

The number of natural and man-made disasters has been increasing in recent years and these disasters have affected many people. To prevent the loss of lives and help the victims of a disaster, response times must be minimized. Disaster operations management can be divided into four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery [1]. (2017) 9: 10 supplies is carried out in the preparedness phase. The response phase includes activities related to needs assessment, resource mobilization and the transportation of relief aids. The recovery phase entails the removal of all debris and rebuilding essential infrastructure. After the onset of any disaster, the current situation is assessed, and resources are mobilized for transport to the disaster area. Relief aid is procured and transportation operations are managed. Logistics operations are important in the humanitarian relief chain and account for around 80% of all disaster relief activities [2]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion