Hinterland transportation in container supply chains

The increase in traded container volumes worldwide puts pressure on the hinterland road network, leading congestion and emission problems. This leads to a requirement to develop intermodal transportation systems. In this chapter, we analyze the most important features of such container transportation systems for the hinterland supply chain. At the network design level, we review the current state of the art and we identify avenues for future research. Among others, we highlight that the coordination of container shipments across the container supply chain is a particularly relevant issue as hinterland networks involve several actors. At the operational level, we characterize the most important factors influencing the trade-off between intermodal transportation and truck-only deliveries. In addition, we provide a case study of coordination at an intermodal barge terminal in the Netherlands. We highlight that the exchange of information is the key enabler for efficient hinterland intermodal transportation and we show that a better information system can be of crucial importance.