Applications of operations research in sea-land intermodal transportation

Operations Research (OR) is the discipline of analytical and mathematical methods to aid decision making. It has been an active field of research in the past decades and there are numerous applications of OR in various industries. This paper seeks to highlight the OR techniques that has been proposed for vehicle routing problem associated with trucking operations. The survey of different OR methods are done through a literature review and evaluated on four criteria: speed, accuracy, simplicity and flexibility. A case study in presented to illustrate the benefits of these OR techniques employed by Coca-Cola Enterprises. Subsequently, the paper examines the barriers to adopting OR in an integrated sea-land intermodal transportation chain. Lastly, a case study is included to demonstrate how these barriers are overcome.Bachelor of Science (Maritime Studies