Development of a Tool to Assess Effectiveness of Intermodal Facility Locations and Designs

University Transportation Centers Program2019PDFTech ReportHuynh, Nathan N.Ferrell, WilliamPadmanabhan, BhavyaBadyal, VishalUniversity of South CarolinaCenter for Connected Multimodal Mobility, Clemson UniversityCenter for Connected Multimodal Mobility, Clemson UniversityUnited StatesCarriersCooperationCostsDesignEvaluationEvaluation and assessmentIntermodal terminalsLocationNetwork analysis (Planning)OptimizationPickup and delivery servicecarrier collaboration69A3551747117Final Report January-December 2018This study is focused on the design and operation of a freight network that supports horizontal carrier collaboration where two or more carriers form an alliance and share pick-up and delivery of jobs. In carrier collaboration, it is assumed that carriers are allowed to retain some of the pickup and delivery jobs they receive from clients while releasing the rest of the jobs to a common pool. Two models are developed: one for strategic planning and one for operations. The objective of the multi-period strategic model is to determine the number and location of intermodal terminals (IMTs) that minimize the total relevant transportation and operational costs, given a set of constraints like ensuring all pickup/delivery demands to/from customers are met, budget, and a limited set of candidate IMT locations. The objective of the operational model is to jointly determine the optimal allocation of jobs from the common pool to the carriers and pickup/delivery routes for each truck. Numerical experiments are conducted using hypothetical networks for both models. Findings from the strategic model indicates that allowing the IMT\u2019s to hold some inventory for a few periods of time provides network flexibility that avoids the need to open additional IMT\u2019s and reduces the need to use high-cost direct shipping to meet demand. Findings from the operational model confirm expectation that carrier collaboration/coordination can yield significant reduction in total cost of serving all pickup and delivery jobs. The amount of reduction depends on the number and location of pickup and delivery jobs that are shared between carriers.140