Concentration degree of the market of intermodal freight transport networks in the EU: Model application

Description

Objectives In this paper we apply our newly developed model to the EU market of intermodal freight transport. We use current IFT data (although limited) to analyze the IFT market. By making rational assumptions we further enhance the data quality. The central research questions in the paper are: How can we define different sub-markets of IFT network in the EU, how can we use the current data in our model, and what is the structure of IFT market in EU? The results will show the structure of different submarkets of IFT network in the EU. Comparing the market concentration in different areas of the EU gives insights about the geographical distribution of the concentration degree of the IFT market in the EU. Data and methodology The method that we use here to calculate the market concentration of Intermodal freight transport (IFT) network considers different sub-markets: 1 pre- end haulage, 2 terminal, and 3 main-haulage, calculates their concentration indexes, and connects their concentration degrees by applying the max flow- min cut theorem. For the sub-markets we assume that a central organization is implementing the network in a way that the capacities of the transport operators are distributed in a way that leads to maximizing the flow over the network. In order to do that we develop an extended Max flow- min cut formulation. We use data from the main 18 corridors in the EU where most of the IFT is performed. These 18 corridors connect 34 areas where about 85% of the total IFT demand occurs. We also use Inlandlinks.com and intermodallinks.com to find data of the IFT operators. Expected results Analysing the terminals submarkets shows that: a) the 70km (for some cases 160km) is a relevant estimation of radii of the inland terminal markets in the EU; b) in general, inland terminal markets in the EU are oligopolistic markets, and most of them are highly concentrated; c) the Northern areas of the EU are less concentrated than the central & southern areas; d) the expected results show how the characteristics of the IFT network leads to the concentration in different parts of the IFT network

Period	11 Jul 2016
Event title	14th World Conference on Transport Research
Event type	Conference
Conference number	14
Location	Shanghai, China