Integrated Location Selection and Scheduling Problems for Inland Container Transportation

Wenchao Wei, Zining Dong and Jinkui Fan ()
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Wenchao Wei: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Zining Dong: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Jinkui Fan: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: Well-organized network configuration is the key to the success of inland container transportation systems. In this study, we firstly propose an integrated framework for the location selection of inland container depots (ICDs) and the scheduling of containers and trucks. The objective is to minimize the total cost of setting up the ICDs and transportation cost associated with trucks and containers. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed to solve the proposed problem. The computational studies show that the proposed decision approach is effective and can reduce the total operating costs of ICDs and transportation costs of containers. Sensitivity analysis on the impact of customer distributions and the number of ICDs on the total cost are conducted to reveal the characteristics of the problem. The utilization of ICDs can significantly improve the efficiency of the transportation network, i.e., the total cost is reduced by at least 27% for the proposed instances, and the transportation distance of empty containers is reduced by at least 4%. Finally, managerial insights and future research directions are provided.

Keywords: container scheduling; location selection problem; MILP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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