The Evaluation Of Multimodal Transportation Systems For Economic Efficiency And Other Impacts PDF Download

"With international trade becoming a big part of the world's economic activity, the demand for good freight transportation systems has grown substantially. The appropriate use of transportation is an integral part of the supply chain's effectiveness. Therefore, the continuous economic globalization, the growing demand for speed-to-market product delivery, and the need to manage global supply chains more effectively, has led to the sustained increase in demand towards multimodal transportation systems (MTS). MTS play an essential role in corporations competing in global markets in the 21st century. In transportation, the effectiveness and efficiency of the whole system depends upon the interconnectivity of its elements. Because disruptions in the supply chain are costly, this research will look at improving the efficiency of MTS by looking at disruptions that have a negative impact on the elements that make up the system. Although past research classifies disruptions in MTS as: congestion, demand fluctuations, time delays, capacity limits, scheduling and, connectivity between the different modes, limited research address the relationship between these failures and the system. This research presents a Systems Dynamics (SD) approach to model MTS, which will let us iterate and mitigate a system to be able to forecast scenarios and meaningful hypothesis of a system's behavior over time. The SD model will aid to identify and understand those major elements and disruptions that altogether impact the efficiency of the MTS. The model will help determine how the disruptive factors of the supply chain are related to the efficiency of the system and will suggest decision-making strategies that will improve MTS performance over time being able to enhance customer satisfaction"--Abstract, page iii.