Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Intermodal services'

In intermodal freight transport context, the selection process of appropriated transport services that fit with user requirements is a big challenge, this master thesis project analyze different alternatives to improve that process based on reputation information of transport providers. Reputation is a social abstract concept which is analyzed in this research establishing a categorization of reputation parameters in the freight transportation context. Using this categorization is proposed two different architectures of reputation systems to manage the sources and processing of this kind of data. This project is based on a framework to develop generic system architecture for intermodal transport management based on previous European efforts.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000.<br>Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-130).<br>Many North American cities have recently opened or extended existing heavy and light rail systems to provide high-quality public transport alternatives. Due to the high capital and operating costs of rail transit, however, expanding the service coverage in a cost-effective manner requires more flexible and less capital-intensive supplementary modes such as buses. Integrating bus and rail services well can allow a transit system to serve a broad variety of travel needs. One recent example of a city pursuing rail transit is San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the 11-mile Tren Urbano heavy rail line is now under construction and expected to open in 2002. Tren Urbano will connect with existing bus and público (privately-operated jitney) systems. Over time, bus and pdiblico services have generally declined as the region has grown more automobile-dependent. This thesis considers the broad question of how to integrate bus and rail services successfully, focusing on the transition from a bus-only system to an intermodal system. Specifically, this thesis first develops a framework for analyzing specific integration strategies and evaluates several potential approaches a transit agency can pursue. It then discusses various planning principles that can assist decision-makers with strategic and tactical integration issues. Some of these issues include operating arrangements, fare integration, network design, and schedule coordination. To support these principles and to provide insight for the San Juan case, this research evaluates the intermodal integration experiences of five cities in the United States (Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Washington, and Portland). In some cases, transit became more effective in both traditional and non-traditional travel markets when buses were used to supplement rather than compete with rail. In other cases, inattention to buses and a general lack of schedule, fare, and route coordination resulted in less favorable outcomes. Finally, this thesis applies the analytical framework, planning principles, and case study lessons to develop and evaluate strategies for integrating San Juan's existing transit network with Tren Urbano. For the buses, it focuses on evaluating service proposals for key corridors and finds that the current network structure is well-suited to feeding Tren Urbano and serving existing bus riders. For the público, it addresses more fundamental institutional issues. It explores the possibility of developing new contracted feeder small bus or van service to Tren Urbano, redirecting routes to avoid direct competition with públicos, and creating "Tren Urbano Plazas" to attract suburban motorists to transit.<br>by Jason Lee.<br>S.M.

The Indian Railways (IR) have, over the past four decades, been steadily losing market share, in both passenger and freight markets. In the case of freight, they have gone from being the dominant mode to being carriers of bulk traffic only. Most of the general goods, high value, traffic has shifted to road. In line with the pattern of economic growth, the manufactured goods sector is the fastest growing sector of the economy. This leads on one hand, to exclusion of JR from an important, and growing, sector of the economy and on the other hand to heavy strains on the already saturated road network, higher environmental dis-benefits and higher costs of petroleum imports. The Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), a subsidiary of IR, is now attempting to enter the domestic freight market, to recapture some of this freight traffic. The present work has been taken up, with the final objective of developing a methodology, for identifying sectors where viable intermodal services can be offered, in comparison to road, as well as rail, services and to determine the price and service levels required for the same. In the absence of any revealed preference (RP) data, as well as any previous work on valuation of attributes for the different sectors, we have used an Adaptive Stated Preference (SP) design for our work. The Leeds Adaptive Stated Preference (LASP) software has been modified and used for the work. Various alternatives have also been examined, with regard to the approach to be used for analysis of the survey data and we have finally decided to use individual level models aggregated using weighted averages as these appear to provide the most robust estimates. We have developed models for costing of, door to door, freight movement by road, rail and intermodal services. These models have been used in conjunction with the demand model to assess the viability of the different services for the sectors considered. Our findings indicate that, using fully allocated door to door costs, rail is a clear leader for distances over about 500 Km, on cost basis alone. However, when the service quality factors are taken into account, intermodal services become more attractive for the high value, damage prone, products while road services are more attractive for the lower value products. Rail services break even under 1500 Km only in a few of the situations considered by us and Intermodal service break even under 1500 Km for a large number of the situations (in case of use of new high speed wagons this breakeven shifts to between 500 to 1000 Km). Rail services would need to match the quality of road services, or be priced on marginal cost basis, to be competitive, as compared to road services. Intermodal services can be quite profitable, with presently attained transit times using the older (BFK) wagons, if they are offered at least thrice a week. The larger firms also appear to be more likely to go for intermodal services, than smaller firms. In case of the newer, high speed wagons, the increased capital costs are offset by the gains due to faster turn-around and there is a substantial improvement in the quality of service (time & reliability) that can be provided. This provides an opportunity for a highly profitable service to be provided with the induction of the new wagons.

Le transport fluvial de conteneurs constitue une activité économique importante qui suscite un intérêt grandissant de la part de scientifiques. Considéré comme durable et économique, le transport par barge a été identifié comme étant une alternative compétitive pour le transport de marchandises, en complément des modes traditionnels de transport, routier et ferroviaire. Néanmoins, les travaux de recherche en rapport avec la planification et le management du transport par barge, en particulier dans le contexte du transport intermodal, sont encore peu abondants. Le but de cette thèse est d’apporter une contribution dans ce domaine, par la proposition de modèles et de méthodes de planification et gestion avancées, dans le cadre d’un système d’aide à la décision pour le transport de conteneurs par barge développé pour accompagner les opérateurs de transport. La méthodologie proposée fait appel à des concepts et principes de gestion du revenu, des ressources et des services de transport pour la conception de plans de services réguliers avec horaires, au niveau tactique. Les opérateurs de transport peuvent ainsi offrir des plans de transport avec des services plus flexibles pour leurs clients, tout en assurant un meilleur niveau de fiabilité. Plus de demandes de transport pourront ainsi être satisfaites, avec globalement une plus grande satisfaction des chargeurs. Une originalité importante proposée par notre approche est l’utilisation de principes et techniques de gestion du revenu (segmentation du marché, classes tarifaires...) aussi bien au niveau opérationnel de la modélisation qu’au niveau tactique. Les problèmes d’optimisation sont formalisés sous forme de modèles de programmation linéaire mixte en nombres entiers (PLNE), implémentés et testés sous différentes configurations de réseaux de transport et différents scénarios de demandes, et ce pour chaque niveau de décision. Au niveau tactique, une nouvelle approche de résolution, combinant la recherche adaptative à voisinage large (ALNS) et la recherche taboue, est proposée pour résoudre des problèmes PLNE de grande taille. Une plateforme de simulation, qui intègre les niveaux tactique et opérationnel de prise de décision, est proposée pour la validation du système d’aide à la décision sous différentes configurations : différentes topologies du réseau physique, différents paramètres pour la gestion du revenu, différents degrés de précision caractérisant les prévisions de demande. Pour l’analyse des résultats numériques ainsi obtenus, plusieurs types d’indicateurs de performance sont proposés et utilisés<br>Barge transportation is an important research topic that started to draw increasing scientific attention in the recent decade. Considered as sustainable, environment-friendly and economical, barge transportation has been identified as a competitive alternative for freight transportation, complementing the traditional road and rail modes. However, contributions related to barge transportation, especially in the context of intermodal transportation, are still scarce. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to fill this gap by proposing a reactive decision support system for freight intermodal barge transportation from the perspective of the carriers. The proposed system incorporates resource and revenue management concepts and principles to build the optimal set of scheduled services plans at the tactical level. Carriers may thus benefit from transportation plans offering increased flexibility and reliability. They could thus serve more demands and better satisfy customers. One novelty of the approach is the application of revenue management considerations (e.g., market segmentation and price differentiation) at both operational and tactical planning levels. The optimization problems are mathematically formalized and mixed integer linear programming (MILP) models are proposed, implemented and tested against various network settings and demand scenarios, for each decision level. At the tactical level, a new solution approach, combining adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) and Tabu search is designed to solve large scale MILP problems. An integrated simulation framework, including the tactical and the operational levels jointly, is proposed to validate the decision support system in different settings, in terms of physical network topology, revenue management parameters and accuracy degree of demand forecasts. To analyze the numerical results corresponding to the solutions of the optimization problems, several categories of performance indicators are proposed and used

Since the birth of the European Union on 1957, the development of a single market through the integration of national freight transport networks has been one of the most important points in the European Union agenda. Increasingly congested motorways, rising oil prices and concerns about environment and climate change require the optimization of transport systems and transport processes. The best solution should be the intermodal transport, in which the most efficient transport options are used for the different legs of transport. This thesis examines the problem of defining innovative strategies and procedures for the sustainable development of intermodal freight transport in Europe. In particular, the role of maritime transport and railway transport in the intermodal chain are examined in depth, as these modes are recognized to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Maritime transport is the only mode that has kept pace with the fast growth in road transport, but it is necessary to promote the full exploitation of it by involving short sea shipping as an integrated service in the intermodal door-to-door supply chain and by improving port accessibility. The role of Motorways of the Sea services as part of the Trans-European Transport Network is is taken into account: a picture of the European policy and a state of the art of the Italian Motorways of the Sea system are reported. Afterwards, the focus shifts from line to node problems: the role of intermodal railway terminals in the transport chain is discussed. In particular, the last mile process is taken into account, as it is crucial in order to exploit the full capacity of an intermodal terminal. The difference between the present last mile planning models of Bologna Interporto and Verona Quadrante Europa is described and discussed. Finally, a new approach to railway intermodal terminal planning and management is introduced, by describing the case of "Terminal Gate" at Verona Quadrante Europa. Some proposals to favour the integrate management of "Terminal Gate" and the allocation of its capacity are drawn up.

Since the birth of the European Union on 1957, the development of a single market through the integration of national freight transport networks has been one of the most important points in the European Union agenda. Increasingly congested motorways, rising oil prices and concerns about environment and climate change require the optimization of transport systems and transport processes. The best solution should be the intermodal transport, in which the most efficient transport options are used for the different legs of transport. This thesis examines the problem of defining innovative strategies and procedures for the sustainable development of intermodal freight transport in Europe. In particular, the role of maritime transport and railway transport in the intermodal chain are examined in depth, as these modes are recognized to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Maritime transport is the only mode that has kept pace with the fast growth in road transport, but it is necessary to promote the full exploitation of it by involving short sea shipping as an integrated service in the intermodal door-to-door supply chain and by improving port accessibility. The role of Motorways of the Sea services as part of the Trans-European Transport Network is is taken into account: a picture of the European policy and a state of the art of the Italian Motorways of the Sea system are reported. Afterwards, the focus shifts from line to node problems: the role of intermodal railway terminals in the transport chain is discussed. In particular, the last mile process is taken into account, as it is crucial in order to exploit the full capacity of an intermodal terminal. The difference between the present last mile planning models of Bologna Interporto and Verona Quadrante Europa is described and discussed. Finally, a new approach to railway intermodal terminal planning and management is introduced, by describing the case of "Terminal Gate" at Verona Quadrante Europa. Some proposals to favour the integrate management of "Terminal Gate" and the allocation of its capacity are drawn up.

El proyecto responde a satisfacer una necesidad real, visible, como es una infraestructura de transporte adecuada en un lugar específico de la ciudad. Además, en esta oportunidad quise ir más allá de esta operación, al hacerme cargo también. y de forma experimental, de las externalidades (sociales, económicas y medioambientales) que trae consigo la construcción de megaestructuras urbanas, como en este caso, de transporte público. Junto con lo anterior, se plantean desde ya algunas interrogantes que se verán tratadas en el transcurrir de esta memoria. El proyecto se define como una plataforma de intercambio entre flujos y servicios urbanos, entre los cuales se encuentra el transporte (público y privado), el equipamiento comercial y terciario, y el espacio público. Este último se trabaja como parte integral en la articulación del sistema, tanto programática interior como también exterior, entre proyecto y ciudad. De estos tres macroprogramas, se desprenden diferentes subcategorías que responden a necesidades resolutivas de cada uno, y que irán enriqueciendo el diseño arquitectónico del conjunto. La decisión de orientar la infraestructura de transporte hacia el subsuelo pasa por reducir el impacto visual y ambiental hacia los otros programas y su entorno inmediato, potenciando así una mayor fluidez urbana en el primer nivel. Sobre el transporte, se proyecta una serie de volumetrías que serán la cara visible del proyecto, que albergan servicios terciaros y comerciales. Este programa, no sólo entregará posibilides de desarollo en términos de empleo para la comunidad, sino que también dará vida a este lugar conformando un punto reconocible dentro de la ciudad.

Der Paradigmenwechsel zur Entwicklungsmethodik innerhalb verteilter Kommunikationssysteme schlägt sich auch in der Telematik zum Anwendungspotential und Systemkomplexität nieder. Dies liefert eine neue Auffasung dessen, was den transparenten Datenkanal ausmacht.

Der Paradigmenwechsel zur Entwicklungsmethodik innerhalb verteilter Kommunikationssysteme schlägt sich auch in der Telematik zum Anwendungspotential und Systemkomplexität nieder. Dies liefert eine neue Auffasung dessen, was den transparenten Datenkanal ausmacht.

Lured by the promise of bigger sales, companies are increasingly looking to raise the volume of international trade. Consequently, the amount of bulk products carried in containers and transported overseas exploded because of the flexibility and reliability of this type of transportation. However, minimizing the logistics costs arising from the container flow management across different terminals has emerged asa major problem that companies and affiliated third-party logistics firms face routinely. The empty tankcontainer allocation problem occurs in the context of intermodal distribution systems management and transportation operations carried out by logistic service provider companies. This paper considers the time-evolving supply chain system of an international logistic service provider company that transports bulk products loaded in tank containers via road, rail and sea. In such system, unbalanced movements of loaded tank containers forces the company to reposition empty tank containers. The purpose of this paper is to develop a mathematical model that supports tactical decisions for flow management of empty tank containers. The problem involves dispatching empty tank containers of various types to the meet on-time delivery requirements and repositioning the other tank containers to storage facilities, depots and cleaning stations. To this aim, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) multiperiod optimization model is developed. The model is analyzed and developed step by step, and its functionality is demonstrated by conducting experiments on the network from our case study problem, within the boarders of Europe. The case study constitutes three different scenarios of empty tank container allocation. The computational experiments show that the model finds good quality solutions, and demonstrate that cost and modality improvements can be achieved in the network The sensitivity analysis employs a set of data from our case study and randomly selected data to highlight certain features of the model and provide some insights regarding the model’s behavior.

Ingeniero Civil Industrial<br>En el rubro del trasporte marítimo, las empresas navieras ofrecen cada vez más un servicio logístico integral, incluyendo también el trasporte terrestre desde o hasta la puerta del cliente. En este contexto competitivo, la filial chilena de la empresa francesa CMA CGM quiso fortalecer su servicio de gestión logística de trasporte terrestre, creando en junio del 2014 un área especialmente dedicada. Desgraciadamente, en el último año la filial ha sufrido una rotación importante de sus proveedores de transporte terrestre, lo que no le permite enfrentar adecuadamente una futura expansión de los volúmenes transportados, sosteniendo la calidad del servicio. El estudio realizado de la situación revela que la principal causa de dicha rotación es el atraso en el pago de los servicios por parte de CMA CGM. El objetivo de esta memoria es proponer un rediseño del proceso administrativo de pago de los proveedores de transporte terrestre de los servicios intermodales actuales de la empresa CMA CGM, para asegurar el cumplimiento de los plazos comprometidos y, de esta manera, contribuir a disminuir la rotación y mantener un alto estándar de provisión del servicio. Para llevar a cabo este rediseño, se utilizó el marco conceptual y la metodología desarrollada por Oscar Barros, particularmente en su libro Rediseño de Procesos de Negocios Mediante el Uso de Patrones. El rediseño, realizado luego del levantamiento y análisis detallado de los procesos, propone cambios tanto en el flujo de actividades del proceso actual como de la tecnología informática que lo apoya, cuales permiten reducir el tiempo del proceso rediseñado en un 34%. Lo que permitiría cumplir con el objetivo de pagar la totalidad de las facturas en menos de 30 días, resultando en un aumento de la satisfacción de los proveedores de transporte terrestre y una diminución de la rotación de éstos, y deja lugar a un aumento del 6% de la actividad intermodal. Cabe señalar que, si bien el rediseño soluciona los problemas actuales de la empresa en el cumplimiento de los pagos dentro de plazo, no es suficiente para cumplir con las metas de expansión futuras de la empresa. Dentro de los factores que pueden contribuir en esta dirección deberá considerarse una revisión de los actuales niveles de dotación.

Práctica Supervisada (IC)--FCEFN-UNC, 2018<br>Trata de la elección de un lugar más factible para la construcción de un centro de transferencia intermodal para la zona nor-oeste de la ciudad de Córdoba. Busca mejorar el sistema de transporte adecuándolo a la demanda existente y prevista, de manera de lograr una movilidad urbana segura, fluida y confiable que permita mejorar la calidad de vida de los habitantes de la ciudad.

Брайковська, А. М. Забезпечення конкурентоспроможності операторських компаній на ринку залізнично-морських вантажних перевезень : авт. дис. к. е. н.: 08.00.04 / А. М. Брайковська ; Дніпропетр. нац. ун-т залізн. трансп. ім. акад. В. Лазаряна. - Д., 2014. - 21 с. : іл. ГРНТИ 06 УДК 338.47:656.078.8(043.3) Захист – 30 травня 2014 р.<br>UK: АНОТАЦІЯ В дисертаційній роботі обґрунтувано концептуальні основи формування стратегії забезпечення конкурентоспроможності операторських компаній на міжнародному ринку залізнично-морських вантажних перевезень за рахунок організації перевезень на мультимодальних умовах, упровадження бенчмаркінгу та вдосконалення логістично-маркетингової діяльності відповідно до ланцюга цінності, що забезпечує формування сталих конкурентних переваг, у тому числі бренду підприємства. Здійснений аналіз підходів до визначення змішаних вантажних перевезень і систематизувана їхня базова класифікація. Розвинено методичні підходи до здійснення бенчмаркінгу у сфері організації вантажних перевезень у змішаному сполученні шляхом виявлення ключових індикаторів успіху та основних показників якості змішаних перевезень і напрямів для оцінки оптимальності ланцюга змішаного перевезення. Удосконалені підходи логістично-маркетингової діяльності до вибору оптимальної лінії змішаних вантажних перевезень і визначення конкурентоспроможної наскрізної тарифної ставки. Обґрунтувані підходи до оцінювання економічної ефективності при забезпеченні конкурентоспроможності операторських компаній та доцільності здійснення перевезення вантажу на мультимодальних умовах.<br>RU: АННОТАЦИЯ В диссертационной работе впервые обоснованы концептуальные основы формирования стратегии обеспечения конкурентоспособности операторских компаний на международном рынке железнодорожно-морских грузовых перевозок за счет организации перевозок на мультимодальных условиях, внедрения бенчмаркинга и совершенствования логистически-маркетинговой деятельности в соответствии с цепочкой ценности, тем самым обеспечивая формирование устойчивых конкурентных преимуществ, в частности, бренда предприятия. Выявлены различия в трактовке понятий: «смешанные перевозки», «мультимодальные», «интермодальные», «комбинированные» и предложена классификация смешанных перевозок путем разделения по организационно-правовым и технико-технологическим признакам. Приведена характеристика опыта в сфере транспортной политики и организации смешанных грузовых перевозок в Германии, Великой Британии, Швеции, России. Обосновано, что вертикально-интегрированная модель реструктуризации с ориентацией на мультимодальное развитие обеспечивает высокий уровень конкурентоспособности операторских компаний. Осуществлен анализ состояния и перспективы развития рынка железнодорожно-морских грузовых перевозок, а также потенциальной экономико-организационной и технико-технологической грузовой базы развития мультимодальных перевозок в Украине. Усовершенствованы методические подходы по применению бенчмаркинга как базиса обеспечения конкурентоспособности предприятия за счет исследования ожиданий стейкхолдеров операторских компаний и дальнейшего ситуативно-временного формирования системы ключевых индикаторов успеха и показателей эффективности смешанной перевозки груза. Предложено решение задачи оптимизации схем железнодорожно-водных перевозок грузов согласно критерию минимальных затрат, соответствующих требованиям товарного рынка потребителя (грузополучателя) и рынка транспортных услуг путем экономико-математического моделирования с учетом технико-технологических особенностей использования инфраструктуры и загрузочных средств, а также права собственности на загрузочные транспортные средства. Расчет конкурентоспособной сквозной тарифной ставки предложено осуществлять путем последовательного анализа вариантов с учетом оптимального выбора схемы перевозки груза и прогнозов фрахтового рынка. Определены подходы к оценке экономической эффективности процесса обеспечения конкурентоспособности операторских компаний, в частности за счет внедрения сбалансированной системы показателей. Обоснован подход к оценке эффективности смешанной перевозки грузов на мультимодальных условиях, основанный на учете изменения скорости, себестоимости и доходной части.<br>EN: ANNOTATION The thesis is devoted to the theoretical grounding, methodical approaches and strategy to ensuring the operator’s competitiveness on the international market of freight. Approaches to the definition of multimodal transport have been analyzed and the basic classification of mixed freight has been systematized. Analysis of the status and trends of the rail market – maritime has been done and appropriateness of mixed traffic on multimodal conditions are justified. The benchmarking mechanism in the organization of mixed freight have been developed by identifying the key indicators of success and main indexes of quality of multimodal transport and directions for evaluating the optimality of the multimodal transport chain. Approaches logistics and marketing activities to the choice of the optimal line of mixed freight and identify competitive through tariff rates have been improved. Approaches to assessing the economic efficiency of the activities in order to ensure the competitiveness of the operator and base of a balanced scorecard have been proposed. The thesis contains approach to evaluating the effectiveness of a mixed freight on multimodal conditions, based on the account of change of speed, cost and revenue sides.<br>Державний економіко-технологічний університет транспорту, м. Київ

La administración eficiente de la cadena de suministro requiere la integración de diversas actividades logísticas. En particular, beneficios importantes incluyendo reducción de costes y mejoras en el nivel de servicio se pueden lograr coordinando las actividades de transporte y de administración de los inventarios. En esa dirección, se formularon tres modelos de optimización bicriterio (coste y nivel de servicio) que consideran simultáneamente la selección del modo de transporte y define la política de inventario cuando la demanda es determinista y variable en el tiempo. Un modelo está propuesto en el contexto no coordinado y dos están basados en la estrategia de coordinación Épocas Comunes de Resurtido; los modelos asumen un solo proveedor que abastece diferentes productos, utilizando tres modos de transporte (rápido, medio y lento) a un solo cliente. Se construyen las fronteras de eficiencia para los dos modelos coordinados basado en los términos del comercio internacional (Incoterms) ExWork (ExW) y Duty Delivery Paid (DDP). Para ilustrar la aplicabilidad del modelo, se considera un caso de estudio específico en el sector de la automoción.<br>Jiménez Sánchez, JE. (2006). Coordinación de inventarios en una cadena de suministro a través de épocas comunes de resurtido bajo demanda dinámica considerando diversos modos de transporte y diferentes políticas de descuento en los precios de los productos y en las tarifas de tr [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/1906<br>Palancia

碩士<br>國立高雄海洋科技大學<br>航運管理研究所<br>97<br>The study focuses on the relationship between the ability of the Sea/Air Service providers and the effectiveness of its performance via Correlation Analysis. Surveys were conducted to the sea/air service providers in Taiwan, the target population in this study, and 108 effective samples were collected. After factor analysis, my study further breaks down the capabilities of the sea/air service providers into two factors: client management and resource management. Performance effectiveness was then also broken into operation effectiveness and logistic effectiveness. Through Correlation analysis, I concluded that relationships exist between client’s management ability and its operation effectiveness, and between resource management and logistic effectiveness. The results of my study are used to make recommendations relating corporate management.

碩士<br>國立交通大學<br>運輸工程與管理系<br>89<br>In recent year, owing to rapid developments in the international commerce, shippers and the marine intermodal carrier both are making every effort to decrease the transport time and cost to enhance their competitive advantages. The single mode transportation service can not completely satisfy the actual transportation demand, due to the prevalence of the container transportation and the need for door to door service in international ocean freight transport. Therefore, there is a trend to combine and integrate various transportation service modes to provide door to door intermodal services. This study develops analytical models on estimating markets, costs, and on proposing operation strategies for express and standard shipping services provided by a marine intermodal carrier. The shipping alternative choice model assumes shippers with different demand characteristics choose the alternative with the least transportation and inventory costs between express and standard shipping services. The study considers container size, speed, service frequency, and the distance of shipping destination to construct a shipping service strategy model by maximizing the operations’ profits. The inland transshipment shipping model assumes the marine intermodal carrier chooses the alternative with the least inland transportation and inventory costs between rails and trucks for shippers. Furthermore, the demand-supply interactions between the marine intermodal carrier and shippers are analyzed by integrating three submodel. The results of this study show that shippers shipping high-value freights tend to select express shipping service. The sensitivity analysis of the model shows that the express shipping service will be more necessary when the average value of shipping freight in the market raises. In addition, the railroad transshipment shipping will increase when the value of shipments decrease or the shipping destination is close to railroad terminal. The result of the study shows that both shippers and the marine intermodal carrier can markedly cut down their costs and enhance their competitive advantages with express shipping services.

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies Management<br>The urbanization phenomenon brings great challenges to the cities and smart city's initiatives, for example smart mobility solutions, are being put in place as a strategy to mitigate the effects. With this study we intend to disclosure the current situation of the metropolitan area of Lisbon regarding smart mobility and multimodal mobility systems: with the development of the present work we gathered examples of smart passenger transport and multimodal solutions, acknowledge the level to which the citizens of the metropolitan area are aware of these solutions and committed to incorporate it in their daily lives and understood how the metropolitan area of Lisbon compares to other European cities regarding smart mobility theme. The methodology adopted was the analysis of an existent European dataset related to the preferences of the European citizens on emerging technology-based passenger transport solutions and the development of a survey custom made to the citizens of the metropolitan area of Lisbon. The results demonstrated the citizens of the metropolitan area of Lisbon are highly unhappy with the available mobility systems and use mainly the private car as transport mode and the importance of multimodal mobility systems were confirmed.<br>O fenómeno da urbanização traz grandes desafios às cidades e as iniciativas de cidades inteligentes, das quais fazem parte as soluções mobilidade inteligente, estão a ser utilizadas como estratégias para mitigar os efeitos deste fenómeno. Com este estudo pretendemos apresentar a situaçã atual da área metropolitana de Lisboa relativamente a mobilidade inteligente e a sistemas de mobilidde multimodal: no decorrer do estudo foram reunidos vários exemplos de soluções inteligentes de transporte de passageiros, foi avaliado o nível de conhecimento dos cidadãos acerca deste tipo de soluções e a sua disponibilidade e compromisso de adopção das mesmas no seu dia-a-dia e foi ainda feita uma comparação do tema da mobilidade inteligente na área metropolitana de Lisboa face outras cidades semelhantes na Europa. A metodologia adoptada passou pela análise de um dataset Europeu relativo às preferências dos cidadãos europeus acerca de soluções inovadoras alanvacadas pelas tecnologias emergentes e pelo desenvolvimento de um questionário para os cidadãos da área metropolitana de Lisboa. Os resultados mostram que existe um descontentamento dos cidadãos da área metropolitana de Lisboa com os sistemas de mobilidade existentes e que o carro pessoal é o meio de transporte mais utilizado; os resultados suportam ainda a importância do tema da mobilidade multimodal para a área metropolitana de Lisboa.

Le mémoire présente le problème de la planification tactique des “blocks” pour le transport ferroviaire intermodal, qui a été peu étudié jusqu’à présent. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle de design de réseau en tenant compte de la spécificité du transport intermodal. La recherche se concentre sur le contexte nord-américain et fait suite à une étroite collaboration avec l’une des principales compagnies ferroviaires nord-américaines. Le “blocking” constitue une importante opération de transport ferroviaire de marchandises, par laquelle des wagons d’origines et de destinations potentiellement différentes sont regroupés pour être d´eplacés et manipulés comme une seule unité, ce qui permet des économies d’échelle. La littérature se limite aux travaux traitant le problème classique du blocage des trains, où la demande est exprimée en termes de wagons. A notre connaissance, aucun travail préalable n’a été consacrè à un contexte de transport intermodal, où la demande est exprimée en termes de conteneurs à dèplacer d’un terminal d’origine donné vers un terminal de destination donné, introduisant ainsi un processus de consolidation supplémentaire. Nous proposons un modèle de “blocking” qui prend en compte plusieurs types de conteneurs et wagons, intégrant l’affectation conteneur-wagon. Nous présentons un nouveau modèle de design de réseau à trois couches en temps continu formulé sous la forme d’un programme linéaire mixte en nombres entiers (MILP), dans le but de minimiser le coût total de transport composé par la sélection de blocs, les coûts d’exploitation et la gestion du coût de la demande. Le modèle peut être résolu en utilisant un solveur commercial pour des tailles réalistes. Nous illustrons les performances et l’intérêt de la méthode proposée à travers une étude de cas approfondie d’un important chemin de fer nord-américain.<br>The thesis presents the tactical block-planning problem for intermodal railroads, which has been little studied so far. We propose a new block service network design model considering the specificity of intermodal rail. The research focuses on the North American context and follows a close collaboration with one of the major North American railroad companies. Blocking constitutes an important rail freight transport operation, by which cars with potentially different origins and destinations are grouped to be moved and handled as a single unit, yielding economies of scale. The literature is limited to works addressing the classical train blocking problem, where demand is given in terms of cars to be blocked among specific OD pairs. To the best of our knowledge, no prior work has been dedicated to an intermodal transportation context, where demand is expressed in terms of containers to be moved from a given origin terminal to a given destination terminal, hence introducing an additional consolidation process. We propose a blocking model that considers several types of containers and railcars, integrating the container-to-car assignment. We present a new continuous-time, three-layer service network design model formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP), with the objective of minimizing the total transportation cost composed by block selection, operation costs, and handling demand cost. The model can be solved using commercial solver for realistic sizes. We illustrate the performance and interest of the proposed method through an extensive case study of a major North American railroad.