Solving Mode Selection Problem in Multimodal Transportation Considering Transportation Cost Structure

Mode selection problem in multimodal transportation lies on combine each available transportation mode to transport freight on the premise of satisfying variable transportation requirements of consignors while the total cost composed of fixed transportation cost, variable transportation cost, transfer cost and service penalty cost are minimized. Based on transportation cost structure, a capacitated mode selection problem in multimodal transportation with time windows was presented. Taking the transportation capacity, time windows and so on as constraints, a more general purpose optimal model was proposed. The model was 0–1 nonlinear mathematical programming model, the small-scale problem instances could be solved by commercial optimization software and the large-scale ones could be handled by genetic algorithm. At last a small-scale computational test coded with LINGO demonstrated that if simultaneously considering the transportation fixed and variable cost, we could find better solution.