Multiple-criteria analysis and choice of transportation alternatives in multimodal freight transport system

Abstract

In the paper the multimodal freight transportation system with a finite number of known alternatives, defined by the routes and modes, is considered. The objective of research is to suggest the approach for evaluation and choice the alternatives of cargo transportation. The following main tasks are considered: choice of indices characterizing efficiency of multimodal transportations, formation of optimization criteria of the multimodal freight transportation, construction of the model of the multimodal transportation system, calculation the performance criteria of cargo transportation. The study presents the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as the most suitable approach for comparative evaluation of different routes and modes of cargo transportation.