Hinterland Container Research Articles

A blockchain‐based framework to optimize shipping container flows in the hinterland

AbstractWe address two interrelated issues affecting the hinterland portion of the maritime container supply chain: reducing the movement of empty containers and reducing empty trips by trucks carrying these containers. In this paper, we show that empty container flow optimization can be implemented via a blockchain based on the proof‐of‐useful‐work concept where the proof of work requires the solution of an ‐hard optimization problem whose solution benefits the blockchain participants. Accordingly, we propose that anonymous miners compete to solve the container truck routing problem, which seeks to find the most efficient routes for trucks. We show that this problem is ‐hard. Miners must also solve the problem of optimally matching consignees and shippers, which will reduce transportation and storage costs for empty containers. In essence, the proposed framework turns blockchain into a massive optimization engine that directly benefits the hinterland container supply chain ecosystem.

Improving the Resilience of Port–Hinterland Container Logistics Transportation Systems: A Bi-Level Programming Approach

Port–hinterland container logistics transportation systems (PHCLTSs) are significant to economic and social development. However, various kinds of unconventional emergency events (UEEs), such as natural or human-caused disasters, threaten PHCLTSs. This study aims to measure and improve the resilience of PHCLTSs. Bi-level programming models with two different lower level models are established to help PHCLTSs recover their capacity efficiently in the face of UEEs. In the upper level model, the government makes immediate recovery decisions about a damaged PHCLTS with the goal of improving the resilience of the PHCLTS. In the lower level models, truck carriers make decisions about transportation routes and freight volume in the recovered PHCLTS. They cooperate fully to pursue the maximization of total profit and are coordinated by a central authority, or they make their own decisions to pursue maximization of their own profit noncooperatively. An algorithm combining particle swarm optimization (PSO) and traditional optimization algorithms is proposed to solve the bi-level programming models. The numerical experimental results show the validity of the proposed models.

Pricing and scheduling of barge hinterland transportation service for inbound containers

Barge hinterland transport is playing an increasingly important role in freight transport industry through reducing carbon emission, relieving traffic congestion, and providing high capacity and reliable transport service. This paper studies the barge service pricing and scheduling problem in a hinterland transport system under multiple planning horizons. The problem is modeled as a Stackelberg game with the hinterland container operator as the leader and consignees as followers. Counter intuitively, we find that it is optimal for the hinterland container operator to charge the barge service higher than the trucking service when the sea terminal’s free storage time is short. High barge service price could still attract consignees because long transportation time by barge benefits consignees by reducing their storage costs at the inland terminal. We also find that increasing carbon emission price could not reduce the emission quantity when the shipping quantity is high.

An Analysis of the Stability of Hinterland Container Transport Cooperation

We study cooperation among hinterland container transport operators that may share transport capacity and demand in corridors between inland and sea ports. We model this transportation problem as a minimum cost flow problem and assume that operators share the total cost based on a bargaining outcome, which has been proven equivalent to the Shapley value. To examine the stability of such cooperation, we perform a sensitivity analysis of the membership of the Shapley value (the bargaining outcome) to the core (the set of stable outcomes) by leveraging a novel concept of parametric cooperative games. We obtain closed-form solutions for identical players that explicitly characterize the impact of overcapacity on the stability of cooperation. For more general cases, we develop a computational approach based on parametric optimization techniques. The numerical results indicate that our primary analytical result, that is, that overcapacity undermines stability, is generally valid, and that overcapacitated networks may permit stable cooperation in only a limited range of settings.

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions in hinterland container transport

To correctly estimate both energy consumption and CO2 emissions of hinterland transport, the currently accepted Activity – modal Structure – energy Intensity – emission Factor (ASIF) method needs to be revised. Therefore, this study introduces the concept of both “yard-door-port” transport chain and semi-life cycle assessment, and establishes a generalized analytical framework. This framework considers all energy consumption and well-to-wheel (WTW) emissions of main-haulage, loading/unloading, pre-/post-haulage, and transshipment of both loaded container movement and empty container repositioning. An empirical study of the Yiwu-Ningbo corridor shows that the energy consumption and CO2 emissions were 82.675 ktce and 249.414 kt in 2017, respectively. Depending on the factors that are not considered, total energy consumption and CO2 emissions will be underestimated by 0.04–45.50% and 0.08–45.37%, respectively. All-road transport consumes 99.17% of the total energy and emits 98.84% of the overall WTW CO2 emissions. The intensities of energy consumption and CO2 emissions for the road-rail combined transport are 81.34% and 74.24% lower than those of all-road transport, respectively. Accordingly, decreasing the energy intensity of semi-trailers and shifting container traffic from all-road transport to road-rail combined transport are effective measures to save energy and reduce CO2. This revised ASIF method enabled the reasonable estimation and structural analysis of energy consumption and CO2 emissions under different scenarios.

Integrated strategic and operational planning of dry port container networks in a stochastic environment

This paper proposes a dry port network design model that integrates strategic and operational decision taking into account the stochastic nature of demand. The proposed model represents the forward and backward flows of both laden and empty containers as well as the inventory levels of empty containers throughout the network. This problem is formulated as a two-stage stochastic programming model where the dynamic decisions relating to containers’ transportation and inventory are integrated with decisions that determine the number and location-allocation of dry ports in an uncertain environment. For solving this problem, a robust sample average approximation method enhanced with Benders decomposition algorithm which is accelerated by multi-cut framework, knapsack inequalities, and Pareto-optimal cut scheme is proposed. The model was tested using a hypothetical case relating to the design of a hinterland container shipping network in North Carolina, USA, that comprises a seaport and fifty manufacturing companies. The quality of solutions obtained was evaluated through extensive numerical experiments. The experimental results underline the sensitivity of network configuration and operational decisions to inventory holding costs and solution robustness. We also provide managerial insights that may lead to improvements in the network configuration, modality choice, service level, fill rate, and inventory turnover in container shipping industry.

Planning hinterland container transportation in congested deep-sea terminals

The size of container ships and the number of containers being transshipped at container terminals have steadily increased over the years. Consequently, it is important to make efficient use of the hinterland capacity. A concept that is used to do this is synchromodal transportation, in which at the very last moment the mode of transportation for a container is decided. Unfortunately, some deep-sea terminals are rather congested and it is unknown by the time the transportation plan is made how many containers can be loaded to and unloaded from a barge. Motivated by this, we study an operational planning problem with uncertainty that is faced by an inland terminal in the port of Amsterdam as a two-stage stochastic problem with recourse. We solve this problem using sample average approximation (SAA) and a fast heuristic using constraints based on stochastic programming (SP). The SAA method gives near-optimal solutions for small instances. For larger instances, the SP-based method is shown to be a good alternative because it is much faster than the SAA method and produces solutions that are less than 1% from the SAA solutions.

Effects of underground logistics system on urban freight traffic: A case study in Shanghai, China

With the rapid development of China’s ports, the growth of port throughput has led to a large increase in the amount of hinterland container transportation, causing traffic congestion and significant vehicle emissions. While a port promotes the prosperity of a city, the contradiction between the expansion of urban space and the land use required for ports has become more serious. The underground logistics system (ULS) provides a good technical option for solving these problems. Because of the large-scale projects that the ULS undertakes and the major investment required to conduct these projects, it is important to study the impact of ULS from the perspective of the urban transportation system. In this paper, an empirical method is proposed to assess the impact of the ULS on the state of traffic and the issue of emissions from the perspective of the urban road network; the specific research area is the ULS from Waigaoqiao Port to the Jiading District in Shanghai. Using highway toll data, traffic flow data, and traffic survey data, a traffic analysis model and an emissions model are established. These models are used to analyze the changes in traffic flows and emissions in the urban road network before and after the construction of the ULS. The analysis results show that the ULS can account for 27.0% of the highway transportation of containers from Waigaoqiao Port. After the construction of the ULS, the container traffic volume of the expressway segments near Waigaoqiao Port decreased by more than 20%, the emissions on most parts of Outer Ring Expressway dropped 16%–28%, and the emissions on expressways parallel to the ULS decreased 20%–40%. The empirical method proposed in this study can be considered as references for the benefit assessment of the ULS for container transportation.

An intelligent decision support system prototype for hinterland port logistics

Port logistics is characterised by a high degree of fragmentation, uncertainty and complexity. In a context with these characteristics, decision support can be of significant value. This study presents the prototype of an intelligent decision support system (DSS) that leads to horizontal and vertical cooperation among freight agents involved in port logistics. A multi-agent simulation model is presented where heterogeneous actions are enabled as a result of an adaptive reinforcement learning algorithm that is inspired by human decision-making strategies. The model combines optimisation modelling and decision theory to operate in a dynamic environment characterised by information asymmetry among agents and dynamic changes over time. A simulation demonstrates the dynamics and convergence to equilibrium of the interactions of heterogeneous agents for delivery and pick up of import/export shipments.In particular, we answer two specific research questions. What is the likely impact of an intelligent DSS in hinterland container transport as a value-added service of port community system (PCS)? How can an optimum cooperative strategy be formulated to meet the dynamic demand and supply of freight agents in hinterland container transport and achieve agility in the age of hyper-competition?By addressing these two research questions we make a specific contribution by developing an agent-based simulation model in a real-world and large-scale case study, by using a reinforcement learning model based on probability matching theory that allows simulating realistically the adaptive behaviour of agents. The results of the simulation of two weeks of container movements indicate huge savings in total transport costs and distance travelled as well as higher utilisation of trucks from the sharing of resources. Moreover, we show that it is strictly better for smaller freight agents to cooperate – a conclusion generated endogenously inside the model as a trade-off between exploration and exploitation. As a result of this prototype simulation, major freight agents will not necessarily benefit from the DSS mainly because they are already using the economies of scale.

Optimizing barge utilization in hinterland container transportation

AbstractIn hinterland container transportation the use of barges is getting more and more important. We propose a real‐life operational planning problem model from an inland terminal operating company, in which the number of containers shipped per barge is maximized and the number of terminals visited per barge is minimized. This problem is solved with an integer linear program (ILP), yielding strong cost reductions, about 20%, compared to the method used currently in practice. Besides, we develop a heuristic that solves the ILP in two stages. First, it decides for each barge which terminals to visit and second it assigns containers to the barges. This heuristic produces almost always optimal solutions and otherwise near‐optimal solutions. Moreover, the heuristic runs much faster than the ILP, especially for large‐sized instances.

Strategic investment in enhancing port–hinterland container transportation network resilience: A network game theory approach

China's “Belt and Road” strategy emphasizes the significance of maritime logistics. To ensure the efficiency and safety of landside maritime logistics, this study aims to investigate the strategic investment of players in a port–hinterland container transportation network to enhance network resilience to man-made unconventional emergency events by reducing vulnerability. Given the complexity of the involvement of multiple players and their interacting complementary and competitive business relationships, network game theory is adopted. Results show that the complementary influence Bonacich centrality of players plays a critical role in determining their investment decisions and serves as basis from which useful managerial insights can be derived.

Detention decisions for empty containers in the hinterland transportation system

In this paper, we study a hinterland empty container transportation system which consists of a sea container terminal and an inland container terminal. There are a hinterland container operator who is in charge of the hinterland container transportation and an ocean carrier who has an empty container depot at the sea container terminal. We utilize a two-stage game model to describe the ocean carrier’s decision about the container’s free detention time and the hinterland container operator’s decision about the time when should an arrived empty container at the inland terminal be dispatched to the sea terminal. Optimal delivery policy of the empty container and the ocean carrier’s optimal free detention time are derived. It is shown that the decentralized system does not guarantee system coordination all the time. The ocean carrier has incentive to integrate the hinterland transportation operation only if the hinterland area is not very short of empty containers.

Threshold incorporating freight choice modeling for hinterland leg transportation chain of export containers

This study investigated the influence of the time upper threshold on the choice behavior of shippers. The time upper threshold is the longest hinterland leg transportation chain time that can be accepted by a shipper. Based on D-efficient design, data were collected from a freight corridor between a hinterland container terminal and a seaport in China. Model estimation results implied that exogenous threshold models are more realistic as they distinguish preference differences of shippers. Share simulation indicates that railroad share will sharply increase when time reduces and approaches a threshold; furthermore, only when the reduction of railroad transportation chain time exceeds 35%, reducing cost or time fluctuation will significantly increase its share.

A Numerical Assessment on Efficiency of Hinterland Container Transport under the Utilization of Dryports

A Numerical Assessment on Efficiency of Hinterland Container Transport under the Utilization of Dryports

Correction to: Communication between deep sea container terminals and hinterland stakeholders: information needs and the relevance of information exchange

Hinterland container transport is increasingly identified as an important element in door-to-door transportation of goods in the context of global supply chains. Container terminal operators also continuously seek strategies to distinguish themselves from their competitors by providing dedicated information on containers, transport means and the terminal. This paper explores the information needs of container terminals and hinterland stakeholders and highlights the importance of different information types for different stakeholders. Information needs are studied through gate survey, interviews and questionnaires sent to different parties involved in seaport-hinterland transportation at the APM Terminal in Rotterdam. This information is divided in three main categories: information about containers, information about transport means and information about deep sea terminal. In each category, the specific information types and the importance of that information for each hinterland party are discussed. The findings of this research can be used by different hinterland parties to optimize the planning and control of container logistics processes. They can also support developing customized ICT solutions for hinterland transportation.

Communication between deep sea container terminals and hinterland stakeholders: information needs and the relevance of information exchange

Hinterland container transport is increasingly identified as an important element in door-to-door transportation of goods in the context of global supply chains. Container terminal operators also continuously seek strategies to distinguish themselves from their competitors by providing dedicated information on containers, transport means and the terminal. This paper explores the information needs of container terminals and hinterland stakeholders and highlights the importance of different information types for different stakeholders. Information needs are studied through gate survey, interviews and questionnaires sent to different parties involved in seaport-hinterland transportation at the APM Terminal in Rotterdam. This information is divided in three main categories: information about containers, information about transport means and information about deep sea terminal. In each category, the specific information types and the importance of that information for each hinterland party are discussed. The findings of this research can be used by different hinterland parties to optimize the planning and control of container logistics processes. They can also support developing customized ICT solutions for hinterland transportation.

An analysis of rail freight operational efficiency and mode share in the British port-hinterland container market

The growth in container shipping poses considerable challenges to efforts to reduce the negative externalities associated with freight transport. There are particular concerns about the impacts of the associated port-hinterland freight flows. Through empirical research, this paper examines trends in the operational efficiency of the British port-hinterland container rail freight market and to assess the impacts of any changes on the overall sustainability of this market. Original survey work conducted in 2007 and 2015 has allowed longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the characteristics of this market.The survey findings reveal that rail’s mode share of port container throughput (in TEU) has increased from 14.7% in 2007 to 16.6% in 2015 and it is likely that its share of the associated hinterland activity has also risen. Rail was carrying 25% more TEU by 2015 without an increase in train service provision. Increases in mean train capacity and mean load factor were observed, leading to growth in the mean train load from 44 TEU in 2007 to 55 TEU in 2015. This considerable improvement in operational efficiency is expected to have reduced the negative externalities per unit of transport activity associated with the rail-borne hinterland container flows, though scope is identified for further improvements in sustainability.

Network assignment model of integrating maritime and hinterland container shipping: application to Central America

The authors develop a model to predict worldwide container movements including both maritime and land shipping network from the viewpoint of cargo owners, given the liner shipping network provided by shipping companies and the level of service in each port. The network assignment methodology is applied to both an intermodal shipping network and maritime shipping sub-network, by which the solution can be obtained in a huge, real-scale network including more than 150 worlds’ container ports as well as some hinterland network of the world. The developed model is applied to the Central American region, where the international maritime containers are often transported across national borders by land. It is confirmed that the model output agrees with the actual container movement in terms of the container cargo throughput for each port, land container flow, and maritime flow by shipping company in Central America. Also, the model sensitivity to key parameters included in the model is confirmed reasonable. Finally, it is also confirmed that the model can predict the volume of containers handled in the port of La Union, where no liner service had previously called and a new liner service calls.

Mitigation potential of CO2 emissions from modal shift induced by subsidy in hinterland container transport

A comprehensive analytical framework is presented to assess the potential modal shift (MS) from road transport to rail/water transport and resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) emission mitigation induced by a subsidy policy in port-hinterland transport. In this framework, a modal share model based on a random coefficient logit model and an activity-based method are used to analyze the contribution of an incentive policy to the potential MS and corresponding CO2 emission mitigation. Stated preference survey, face-to-face interviews, and group discussions are employed to obtain the essential data. Case study result shows that a CO2 emission mitigation of 2,586.88t may be achieved with a subsidy of 200 RMB/TEU (Renminbi/20-feet equivalent unit) to the shippers who choose the road-rail combined transport chain in Yiwu City. Compared with the business-as-usual scenario without subsidy, the subsidy policy scenario can achieve a 3.2% MS from a road-only transport chain to a road-rail combined transport chain, as well as a 2.07% CO2 emission mitigation in the Yiwu-Ningbo container transport corridor. This finding reveals that the subsidies can serve as short-term solutions, but a policy package, including financial, technological, operational, and managerial measures, is required as a long-term strategy.

Synchromodal hinterland freight transport: Model study for the port of Rotterdam

This paper develops a model that enables comparative analysis of intermodal and synchromodal operations from economic, societal, and environmental perspectives. The model captures relevant (day-to-day and within-day) dynamics in freight transport demand and supply, flexible multimodal routing with transfers and transhipments. The capacitated schedule-based assignment algorithm operating specifically at path level allows strategic modelling and evaluation accounting for the freight transport system at operational level. The Rotterdam hinterland container transport case study shows that synchromodal system is likely to improve transport service level, capacity utilization, and modal shift, but not to reduce delivery costs.