Intermodal container flow simulation model and its applications

Abstract

A container flow simulation model incorporating shippers, carriers, and port operators for intermodal freight transportation systems is developed and consists of the following components: inland intermodal container transportation involving various inland transport modes, liner shipping services provided by various carriers, freight-rate competition between carriers, transit time and service capacity, utility-based path choice principle for shippers, and discrete event simulation procedure. The object-oriented programming language C++ is used to implement the model to facilitate analysis of various scenarios. The developed program is used to predict the increased revenue and market share of a liner shipping company if the company introduces a new liner service route and is also used to estimate quantitatively the effect on the container throughput of Singapore Port of the shift of Maersk's Southeast Asian hub from Singapore to Tanjung Pelepas, Port Malaysia.