Data-driven preference-based routing and scheduling for activity-based freight transport modelling

Understanding preferences and behaviours in road freight transport is valuable for planning and analysis. This paper proposes a data-driven vehicle routing and scheduling approach for use as a descriptive tool to study road freight transport activities. The model developed seeks to capture planners’ or drivers’ preferences in order to...

On the cost elasticity of inter-regional distribution structures: A case study for the Netherlands

Several studies show that logistics facilities have spread spatially from relatively concentrated clusters in the 1970s to geographically more decentralized patterns away from urban areas. The literature indicates that logistics costs are one of the major influences on changes in distribution structures, or locations and usage of logistics...

Appraisal of freight projects and policies

Freight transport systems are facing ever-growing demand and increasingly stringent requirements. Governments are pressured to develop new policies and fund new projects that drive forward the freight transport systems. We provide an overview of typical evaluation approaches used for freight transport policies and projects, from the public...

Descriptive modeling of freight tour formation: A shipment-based approach

An increasing amount of research is dedicated to the consideration of tour formation in freight transportation demand models. While empirical tour formation models so far have been starting from limiting assumptions about the resulting trips, we develop a generalized shipment-based model. We formulate a random utility model embedded in an...

Predicting the effects of logistics innovations on freight systems: Directions for research

Logistics processes underlying freight transport are changing rapidly, driven by progress in information technology and an unparalleled growth of consumer involvement in supply chains. This development is also driving change in freight transport flows, by all modes of transport. We argue that an understanding of logistics innovations is a...

Recent developments in national and international freight transport models within Europe

The past decade has seen many new freight transport models for use in transport planning by public authorities. Some of these models have developed new concepts, such as logistics modules, inclusion of transshipments, storage and sourcing and the determination of shipment size. This paper provides a review of the European literature on freight...