Optimizing multimodal transportation routes considering container use

Abstract

This study focuses on the route selection problem of multimodal transportation: When facing a shortage of containers, a transport plan must be designed for freight forwarders that realizes the optimal balance between transportation time and transportation cost. This problem is complicated by two important characteristics: (1) The use of containers is related to transport routes, and they interact with each other; and (2) Different types of containers should be used in different time ranges for different modes of transportation. To solve this problem, we establish a multi-objective optimization model for minimizing the total transportation time, transportation cost and container usage cost. To solve the multi-objective programming model, the normalized normal constraint method (NNCM) is used to obtain Pareto solutions. We conducted a case study considering the transportation of iron ore in Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province. The results demonstrate that using railway containers and railway transportation as much as possible in route selection can effectively solve the problem of container shortage and balance transportation time and transportation cost.