Planning Problems in Intermodal Freight Transport ...

7. CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS
Intermodal transport has grown into a dynamic transportation research field. Many
new intermodal research projects have emerged. An investigation has been made into
planning issues in intermodal transport. Intermodal planning problems are more complex due
to the inclusion of multiple transport modes, multiple decision makers and multiple types of
load units. Two strategic planning problems, terminal design and infrastructure network
configuration, have received an increased attention in recent years. Yet the number of
scientific publications on other intermodal planning problems, especially at the operational
decision level, remains limited or non-existent. Topics such as the allocation of resources to
jobs in an intermodal terminal or the determination of truck and chassis fleet size in
intermodal drayage operations still need to be tackled. The following themes are interesting
for future research:
• Drayage operations constitute a relatively large portion of total costs of intermodal
transport. The development of efficient drayage operations can encourage its
attractiveness. However, few research has been conducted on intermodal drayage
operations.
• A tactical planning problem that requires more research attention is the design of the
intermodal service network and in particular the determination of an optimal consolidation
strategy. Additional insight should be gained into which bundling concepts can contribute
to the improvement of intermodal transport operations.
• Research efforts are also needed into the further development of solution methods and the
comparison of proposed operations research techniques. Metaheuristics can offer an
interesting perspective in view of the increased complexity of intermodal planning
problems.