Intermodal Transportation and Inland Depot Selection

Since 1970's, freight transportation activities have seen fundamental changes in technology, operation, management and organization. In particular the increasing use of Intermodal transportation operation. A transportation carrier deliver products to its clients using containers in various transportation modes such as railcars, trucks, etc. After delivery and unloading by the customers, the empty containers are shipped back to a depot or warehouse designated by the carrier for subsequent shipment to other customers. After loading the new customer's products, the containers are transported directly to their destinations or through some intermediate depots. Under this type of logistic networks, containers spend a significant amount of time in empty movements. For example in the US rail system it is estimated that a railcar is empty during 40% of its average car cycle. A fundamental question is, given an inland logistic network, how should the carrier dispatch empty container to meet shipper's demand to relocate empty containers among depots and warehouses and to lease on/off vehicles in preparation for future demand. The purpose of this paper is to answer the above question by developing a decision support tool to assist transportation carriers in determining their inland network, the location and capacity of each depot and warehouse.