Integration of inter-terminal transport and hinterland rail transport

Qu Hu (), Bart Wiegmans (), Francesco Corman () and Gabriel Lodewijks ()
Additional contact information
Qu Hu: Delft University of Technology
Bart Wiegmans: Delft University of Technology
Francesco Corman: ETH Zürich
Gabriel Lodewijks: The University of NSW

Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, 2019, vol. 31, issue 3, No 10, 807-831

Abstract: Abstract This paper investigates the problem of inter-terminal movements of containers and vehicles within a port area in order to achieve an integrated and effective transport within the port and towards the hinterland. Containers from different port terminals are first moved to a rail yard and then delivered to the hinterland by rail. To provide insights for stakeholders such as port authority and terminal operators into tactical planning problems, e.g., the coordination between terminals, railway timetable and train sizes, this paper proposes an optimization model describing the movement of containers and various vehicles between and inside terminals. The model aims at improving the container delivery from container terminals to the hinterland considering both railway hinterland transport and terminal handling operations. A network inspired by a real-life port area and its hinterland is used as a test case to test different components, i.e., inter-terminal transport connections, train formation, railway timetable. A rolling horizon framework is used to improve the computation efficiency in large transport demand cases. The result of the optimization helps in identifying the most promising features, namely, that more connections between terminals and a flexible outbound railway timetable could contribute to improving the integrated container transport performance.

Keywords: Intermodal transport; Container terminal; Railway transport; Inter-terminal transport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10696-019-09345-8

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