Location Problem for Intermodal Terminal in North Dakota

Container drayage trips have become a major concern for agricultural products exporters in the Northern Great Plains region. In addition to the increase in number of trips and the cost of travel along with the efforts of acquiring empty container and truckers, this increase generates congestion and emission in the metropolitan hub cities. In this research, distance between farm manufacturers to intermodal terminals is considered. The research is conducted ideally under the indifference of current situations of the capacity and financing issues. When the location is selected, the intermodal terminal can be an alternative for the future development in the consensus of various stakeholders for the economic impact and public issues. Origin-Destination distance matrix from ORNL was used to connect demand points to the nearest intermodal terminal using GIS. From the analysis, Scenario I (Dilworth) was selected as an appropriate intermodal location for the shippers in the research area. The selection was measured by the total intermodal logistics cost and service distance. The selected scenario presents more travel on highways and less rail mile than the scenario for which nothing was selected as well as lower total logistics cost