Integrating empty container allocation with vehicle routing in intermodal transport

Abstract

In an intermodal transportation network, empty containers need to be repositioned in order to be able to fulfil empty container demands. At a regional level this repositioning takes place between importers, exporters, intermodal terminals, inland depots and ports. Repositioning movements with lowest costs may be determined by an empty container allocation model. Vehicle routing models may be used to find vehicle routes for performing loaded containers transports and container allocations determined by the container allocation model. Recently, approaches to integrate empty container allocations and vehicle routing have been discussed in literature. This paper shows the advantage of an integrated approach for the full-truckload problem with a vehicle capacity of a single container. Mathematical formulations for the container allocation and vehicle routing model are proposed. A model integrating the separate models is presented and numerical experiments are performed. Results show that the integrated model results in the lowest costs.