Since the implementation of the regulations on the limit-driving of truck in urban areas of big cities, the study on route and time of city distribution gradually gets more attention. To improve the efficiency of distribution transport, not only the length of the routes need to be considered, but also the traffic conditions as well, even along with freight station locations and etc. Based on th...

We present the main freight transportation planning and management issues, brie y review the associated literature, describe a number of major developments, and identify trends and challenges. In order to keep the length of the paper within reasonable limits, we focus on long-haul, intercity, freight transportation. Optimization-based operations research methodologies are privileged. The paper ...

For an LTL (Less-than Truckload) carrier, the allocation of doors at a consolidation facility to outbound trailers assigned to various destinations, and to inbound trailers in the continuous stream arriving from various origins, has a significant impact on its operations, and on the nightly man-hours needed for consolidation. In the past literature door allocations to destinations of outbound t...

We study a stochastic inventory model of a firm, that sources the product from a make-to-order manufacturer, and can ship orders by a combination of two freight modes. The two freight modes differ in lead-times, and each has a fixed and a quantity proportional cost for each use. The ordering decisions are made periodically; however, the inventory holding and back-order penalty costs are incurre...

We present a method, which makes use of historical vehicle data and current vehicle observations in order to estimate 1) the route a vehicle has used and 2) the freight the vehicle carried along the estimated route. The method includes a learning phase and an estimation phase. In the learning phase, historical data about the movement of a vehicle and of the consignments allocated to the vehicle...

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is an intermodal agency tasked with the mobility of the state's citizens, businesses and visitors. Freight and public transit are essential components of Michigan's transportation system. To further MDOT's goal of leveraging technology to maximize safety, mobility, environmental performance, and asset management through mode-specific research pro...

A freight forwarder may consolidate its goods transportations in order to achieve a more efficient operation. When goods transportations are consolidated, they may reduce operational costs, e.g. labor and fuel. This can be further improved if a number of freight forwarders cooperate and consolidate their collective goods transportations, i.e. it is a cooperation between competitors, a coopetiti...

For automation of a continuous overloading process between two vehicles in motion, two information are essential. On the one hand there is the relative position between the vehicles to be known. On the other hand the loading point within the load space of the transport car has to be determined. Often a non optimal usage of the transport capacity is obtained without moving the overload swivel. I...

We consider the rail car management at industrial in-plant railroads. Demands for loaded or empty cars are characterized by a track, a car type, and the desired quantity. If available, we assign cars from the stock, possibly substituting types, otherwise we rent additional cars. Transportation requests are fulfilled as a short sequence of pieces of work, the so-called blocks. Their design at a ...