Decision support in intermodal transport: A new research agenda

Abstract

This paper proposes new research themes concerning decision support in intermodal transport. Decision support models have been constructed for private stakeholders (e.g. network operators, drayage operators, terminal operators or intermodal operators) as well as for public actors such as policy makers and port authorities. Intermodal research topics include policy support, terminal network design, intermodal service network design, intermodal routing, drayage operations and ICT innovations. For each research topic, the current state of the art and gaps in existing models are identified. Current trends in intermodal decision support models include the introduction of environmental concerns, the development of dynamic models and the growth in innovative applications of Operations Research techniques. Limited data availability and problem size (network scale) and related computational considerations are issues which increase the complexity of decision support in intermodal transport.