Optimizing Empty Container Repositioning in a Truck-rail Intermodal Network PDF Download
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Author: Kathryn Olivia Collins
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
The geographic imbalance of freight moved by the transportation industry requires repositioning of empty containers. Empty container repositioning (ECR) describes the strategy for empty container relocation to reduce cost and satisfy demand. ECR costs the transportation industry billions of dollars per year worldwide, so the efficient and effective execution of ECR is necessary for maximal equipment utilization. The trucking industry is greatly impacted by ECR decisions because of the high volumes of freight moved every year, leading to thousands of empty containers in need of relocation every week. The trucking industry is incentivized to partner with other transportation modes, considered intermodal transport, for ECR movements because of other modes' lower transit costs. A breadth of research exists for ECR optimization for intermodal ocean networks, but trucking industries operate cross-country and require a low-cost transcontinental solution. Intermodal railroad networks are the ideal ECR solution for trucking companies, but a lack of research exists addressing ECR flow optimization in a strictly truck-rail network. This thesis focuses on an optimization model for the ECR decisions of a trucking company utilizing a truck-rail intermodal network. Imbalances between inbound and outbound freight flows in metropolitan areas result in sources and demands for empty containers across the network. Empty containers are repositioned via railroad to fulfill demand between these areas. The trucking company's primary goal is to fulfill demand for empty containers while minimizing fees paid to the railroads and its own equipment relocation costs. The research objective of this thesis is to develop an optimization model to support ECR decisions for realistic truck-rail intermodal systems. The model is demonstrated using data from a leading trucking company in North America. Comparing the optimization model results to the plans developed by the company's empty-planning team shows that the model produces high-quality plans, achieves cost savings, can be solved efficiently, and presents novel solutions to the business.
Author: Kathryn Olivia Collins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
The geographic imbalance of freight moved by the transportation industry requires repositioning of empty containers. Empty container repositioning (ECR) describes the strategy for empty container relocation to reduce cost and satisfy demand. ECR costs the transportation industry billions of dollars per year worldwide, so the efficient and effective execution of ECR is necessary for maximal equipment utilization. The trucking industry is greatly impacted by ECR decisions because of the high volumes of freight moved every year, leading to thousands of empty containers in need of relocation every week. The trucking industry is incentivized to partner with other transportation modes, considered intermodal transport, for ECR movements because of other modes' lower transit costs. A breadth of research exists for ECR optimization for intermodal ocean networks, but trucking industries operate cross-country and require a low-cost transcontinental solution. Intermodal railroad networks are the ideal ECR solution for trucking companies, but a lack of research exists addressing ECR flow optimization in a strictly truck-rail network. This thesis focuses on an optimization model for the ECR decisions of a trucking company utilizing a truck-rail intermodal network. Imbalances between inbound and outbound freight flows in metropolitan areas result in sources and demands for empty containers across the network. Empty containers are repositioned via railroad to fulfill demand between these areas. The trucking company's primary goal is to fulfill demand for empty containers while minimizing fees paid to the railroads and its own equipment relocation costs. The research objective of this thesis is to develop an optimization model to support ECR decisions for realistic truck-rail intermodal systems. The model is demonstrated using data from a leading trucking company in North America. Comparing the optimization model results to the plans developed by the company's empty-planning team shows that the model produces high-quality plans, achieves cost savings, can be solved efficiently, and presents novel solutions to the business.
Author: Egor Sarafanov
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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The imbalances in world trade lead to significant challenges in the container shipping industry, resulting in large differences in import and export rates among locations. Consequently, empty surplus containers need to be repositioned to areas where they are needed, incurring substantial costs and operational inefficiencies. This master's thesis takes on the systematic review and organization of existing strategies, with a particular focus on optimization models. Leveraging Dr. Kris Braekers' Ph.D. thesis (2013), titled "Optimization of Empty Container Movements in Intermodal Transport" and relevant sources in the field, this research critically examines methodologies and identifies commonalities, patterns, and gaps in empty container repositioning. The objective is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of this critical issue and provide valuable insights to enrich the knowledge base. By addressing the complexities of empty container repositioning, this thesis seeks to help container shipping companies reduce costs and improve operational efficiency.
Author: Wen Zhang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Containerization
Languages : en
Pages : 202
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This thesis presents a case study of the trucking (or drayage) portion of rail-truck intermodal freight transportation. The approach used was to examine in detail the current costs and potential for improvement at one New Jersey intermodal terminal. The analysis is conducted using a mathematical programming model to find an optimal scheduling plan for the drayage operation. To solve the model more efficiently, a modification is made to explore the special structure of the original problem which has a sparse constraint matrix. The model is solved first with an objective function that minimizes the total cost of the operation, and then with an objective function that minimizes the total tractor fleet size required to move the containers. The model results indicate a 19.2% and 52.7% reduction in overall costs respectively for the objectives of minimizing total cost and minimizing fleet size. This reduction is achieved by repositioning and reloading containers, after they have been unloaded at consignees.
Author: Hamdy A. Taha
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Containerization
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Author: Humberto Florez
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Containerization
Languages : en
Pages : 126
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Author: Stephen S. Roop
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Containerization
Languages : en
Pages : 58
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The "container revolution" of the last forty years has altered the manner in which transportation modes interact. Containerized freight continues to increase with ever larger ships, double stack train service, and trucking companies dedicated to intermodal container movements. The goal of "seamless" interaction between modes is based on a desire to reduce container dwell times at facilities and thus improve productivity and profitability. Consequently, the design of intermodal container terminals, the selection of appropriate lift equipment, and manpower allocation is of paramount importance to facility productivity. Tools for facility design undergo continual improvement. The current research is dedicated to developing a general simulation model of ship-to-rail intermodal container movements with the goal of providing analytical support to operations and facility design personnel
Author: Alex Bin Hong Lee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Containerization
Languages : en
Pages : 87
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Author: Ian Numa Navarro
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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This case study addresses the problem of empty container repositioning in the Colombian context at a regional scale. The research was motivated by the massive empty container congestion in 2022 in specific nodes of the logistics network. The mixed methods approach proposed in this research considered a qualitative and quantitative method that aim to clarify the causes of inefficiency in the system and formulate improvement strategies. Th street-turn has proved to be the strategy with better fit to increase efficiency in the ECR system. To measure the potential gains of street-turn, a matching algorithm has been developed to pair empty containers with export loads, with the objective of achieving more efficient utilization of vehicles in the network. The optimization model results confirm significant cost savings and reduction of empty trips for selected regions in Colombia. However, the reach of the algorithm is limited by the high trade container imbalances. Further, it has been possible to identify that the actors involved in the ECR system at a regional level lack incentives to collaborate, setting this a barrier to the implementation of street-turn.
Author: Bin Hong Alex Lee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 93
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Empty container logistics is a huge cost component in an ocean carrier's operations. Managing this cost is important to ensure profitability of the business. This thesis proposes a 3-stage framework to handle empty container logistics with cost management as the objective. The first stage studies the forecasting of laden shipment demand, which provides the empty container supply requirement. Based on the supply needs, the problem of optimizing the fleet size was then addressed by using an inventory model to establish the optimal safety stock level. Simulations were used to understand the sensitivity of safety stock to desired service level. The final stage involves using mathematical programming to optimize repositioning costs incurred by carriers to ship empty containers to places which need them due to trade imbalance. At the same time, costs that are incurred due to leasing and storage are considered. A comparison between just-in-time and pre-emptive replenishment was performed and impact due to uncertainties is investigated. The framework is then implemented in a Decision Support System for an actual ocean carrier and is used to assist the empty container logistics team to take the best course of action in daily operations. The results from the optimizations show that there are opportunities for the carrier to reduce its fleet size and cut empty container logistics related costs.
Author: Ruhollah Heydari
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Freight and freightage
Languages : en
Pages : 160
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Because of spatial and temporal imbalances in the supply and demand of empty railcars/cars in freight transportation systems, empty equipment repositioning is inevitable. As the owners of rail network, trains and railcars, railway carriers charge their customers based on the days and the miles that a railcar is under load. Hence the cost of shipping empty cars to customers as well as the opportunity cost of extra inventory in customer facilities is on the railway’s shoulder. A reverse routing strategy suggesting to return the empty cars to the place they were loaded, imposes a 50% empty movement in a car cycle while a reload strategy suggesting to reload the cars at the point they become empty has 0% empty movement. The first strategy is good for frequent shippers only and still is too costly and the idealistic second strategy is not usually feasible because of the supply-demand imbalances. In this research we develop two formulations for the Empty Railcar Distribution problem, both aiming to minimize the total setup costs, total transportation costs, and total shortage penalties under supply limitation, demand satisfaction, customer preferences and priorities, and network capacity constraints. We first formulate the problem as a path-based capacitated network flow model. Contrary to the traditional path-based formulations, the path connecting each supply-demand pair is given by an external application called Trip Planner which is defined on top of a time-space network. Another application called Pseudo Path Generator then generates alternative paths for each supply-order pair. Then we formulate the problem as an arc-based capacitated multi-commodity network flow model where contrary to the path-based model, the car routing and car distribution decisions are integrated in a single model. The path-based formulation is more practical for the United States railroads since in US railroad industry car routing and car distribution decisions are separated from each other and usually made by different departments while the integrated arc-based formulation is close to the Swedish Railway System. Both models are complex and because of the huge number of constraints and integer decision variables are hard to solve. The models are implemented in Java and solved using Concert Technology of the IBM CPLEX solver. We also develop an Iterative Relaxation and Rounding Heuristic using Initial Basis for the path-based model. The comparison of path-based and arc-based formulations in both capacitated and uncapacitated modes confirmed the efficiency of the heuristic from both run time and solution quality perspectives.
