Title: A stochastic facility location model for intermodal freight hubs

Authors: Karina Lang; Víctor Cantillo; Héctor López-Ospina; Iván Serrano

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Área metropolitana de Barranquilla, Kilómetro 5 Vía, Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Área metropolitana de Barranquilla, Kilómetro 5 Vía, Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Área metropolitana de Barranquilla, Kilómetro 5 Vía, Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Área metropolitana de Barranquilla, Kilómetro 5 Vía, Puerto Colombia, Atlántico, Colombia

Abstract: This article proposes a stochastic model for assessing the location of facilities for logistics terminals, modelled as freight transfer hubs to optimise the physical distribution of foreign trade products from the production centres to seaports and vice versa. The objective function minimises social costs, including private logistics costs (fares, travel times, transhipment) and external costs. In addition, the proposed approach uses a multinomial logit model as a demand function to incorporate consumer stochastic behaviour when choosing a route and location. The model was applied to the multimodal Colombian freight network. Results show that the social costs of logistics networks are reduced by including terminals that encourage intermodality. Network structure and economies of scale affect terminals selection.

Keywords: facility location; logistics terminals; intermodality; intermodal hub location problem.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2023.136044

International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2023 Vol.17 No.4, pp.383 - 413

Received: 03 Sep 2021
Accepted: 07 Feb 2022
Published online: 15 Jan 2024 *

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