Title: Choosing a transport contract over multiple periods

Authors: Xavier Brusset

Addresses: Centre of Excellence in Supply Chain Management, Louvain School of Management, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Place des Doyens, 1 B-1348 Louvain la Neuve, Belgium

Abstract: We offer a shipper and a carrier the choice among three contracts in which to frame their relationship. Both can also take recourse in the transport spot market. Demand and price on the spot market are dependent exogenous stochastic processes. We model the outcome of this endogenous choice of contract. The results, given in closed form, are different from those presented in the literature. Using numeric instances, we show how a choice is made and which contract would be preferred. Comparison on the variance of the economic returns are offered. The conclusions are applicable when the carrier is not capacity constrained.

Keywords: transport contracts; stochastic process; MPC; minimum purchase commitment; quantity flexibility; relational contract; transport spot markets; contract selection; supply chain management; SCM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2009.022499

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2009 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.273 - 322

Published online: 10 Jan 2009 *

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