| Intermodal transportation is a response to changing marketing and distribution requirements for moving all types of cargo. Widespread recognition of the enormous marketing advantages of very large size carriers, global transport alliances, and common marketing and distribution strategies has been influencing the attitude of the freight transportation industry with regard to the concept of intermodalism. Intermodalism is challenging technology whose users are developing a better atmosphere for its survival.; There are many issues that must be considered when addressing intermodal transportation routing. Transfer cost, the cost of transferring the cargo from one mode of transportation to another, is another cost factor that must be taken into account. Transfer costs can be either fixed or variable. They may also depend upon the transfer point at which they occur, as well as the incoming and outgoing modes at a transfer point. Another factor involved in intermodal transportation decisions is that of service level. Transportation and transfer times must be considered in order to meet customer service expectations.; This research project extends work previously funded by the Mack Blackwell Transportation Center (MBTC). This earlier work focused on determining the societal cost of different modes of transportation. GIS software was developed to assist the user in identifying the cost of a combination of transportation modes between a selected origin and destination. In this previous research intermodal transfer costs had to be considered manually by the user in making this determination. This research addresses a more robust analytical method to automate the determination of the least cost combination of modes. Throughput time requirements, transportation rates and intermodal transfer costs were specifically considered in conjunction with the model developed.; The objective of the research was to develop a methodology to select the best combination of transportation modes to move a shipment from an origin to destination. The methodology considers the service level, transportation cost, transport time, transfer cost and modal combinations. A Decision Support System (DSS), utilizing this methodology, for real-time routing of shipments through an intermodal network was also developed. |
