Optimization of container transportation in port hinterland with trucks : quantifying the effect of cooperation

Abstract

PURPOSE

The presentation gives an overview of the possibilities to increase profits by horizontal cooperation in hinterland container logistics with trucks, specifically through sharing customer orders.

METHODOLOGY

A new optimization approach is presented based on results of a comprehensive literature review and a qualitative pre-study study. The approach considers the sharing of customer orders to be governed by a predefined set of trusted collaboration partners with access to the customer orders. Based on the results of the literature review and an empirical pre-study, this mechanism was identified as a prerequisite for a stable and long-term-oriented cooperation.

FINDINGS

The analysis shows that different degrees of cooperation, i.e. different sizes of trust groups and different intensity of order exchange, as well as different fairness constraints have a strong and varying impact on the efficiency of the system, e.g. in terms of profit increase as well as with respect to the distribution of orders and profits. The interrelations between these aspects are studied and quantified. ORIGINALITY

The results allow to quantify the effect of cooperation in the port hinterland. The influence of the size of trust groups as well as different compensation mechanisms and their combination on long-term cooperation is shown.