Augmented Lagrangian relaxation-based coordinated approach for global synchromodal transport planning with multiple operators

Augmented Lagrangian relaxation-based coordinated approach for global synchromodal transport planning with multiple operators

Guo, W. (TU Delft Transport Engineering and Logistics; Wuhan University of Technology; Inland Port and Shipping Industry Research Co.)
Zhang, Y. (TU Delft Transport and Planning; TU Delft Transport Engineering and Logistics; Southwest Jiaotong University)
Li, Wenfeng (Wuhan University of Technology)
Negenborn, R.R. (TU Delft Transport Engineering and Logistics)
Atasoy, B. (TU Delft Transport Engineering and Logistics)

2024

Global synchromodal transportation is a promising strategy for providing efficient, reliable, flexible, and sustainable container shipping services across continents. It involves integrating multiple modes and routes owned by various operators to create a comprehensive transport plan. However, these operators often have their own local networks and are hesitant to cede control to a centralized platform. Instead, they prefer to share limited information in a coordinated manner to achieve a common goal without sacrificing their own benefits. This paper proposes a coordinated mechanism for global synchromodal transport planning, in which a global operator proposes incentives to local operators to select the most efficient modes and routes for shipping containers from one continent to another. An augmented Lagrangian relaxation approach is developed for the global operator to generate incentives, and a heuristic algorithm is designed to address the computational complexity of the optimization problems faced by local operators. We incorporate the proposed approaches with a rolling horizon framework to handle dynamic shipment requests received from spot markets and with a buffer strategy to address travel time uncertainties. The coordinated mechanism is tested on a real network between Asia and Europe, and results show that it can significantly increase total profits, reduce request rejections, and reduce infeasible transshipments compared to decentralized global transportation plans currently in use, particularly under scenarios with higher degrees of dynamism and uncertainty.

Augmented Lagrangian relaxation approach
Coordinated mechanism
Global synchromodal transport systems
Heuristic algorithm
Multiple operators

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:61512c72-82f0-4f1e-a66e-65bf861969d8

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2024.103535

1366-5545

Transportation Research. Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 185

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2024 W. Guo, Y. Zhang, Wenfeng Li, R.R. Negenborn, B. Atasoy