The Value of Sharing Inland Transportation Services in a Dry Port System

A dry port system consists of a dry port and a number of shippers, where shippers enjoy the public logistics and auxiliary services provided by the dry port. This paper studies the shared transportation services in this system. The interaction between a dry port and shippers is modeled as a bi-level program. The optimal properties of the model are analyzed analytically and an enumeration algorithm is proposed to solve the model. Furthermore, a bi-level model is developed for the direct transportation system. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in transportation are calculated under two scenarios: with and without sharing transportation. Numerical studies are conducted to investigate the sensitivity of the economic and environmental value of sharing with respect to various system parameters. The studies show that sharing transportation service could bring significant profit improvement to the dry port and cost savings to shippers in most circumstances. It is found that carbon emissions are not always mitigated when the distance between shippers is too long, or the dry port is located too close to shippers. When the total distance traveled in the direct transportation system is longer than that in the shared one, the analysis reveals that carrying lighter cargoes could generate more significant CO₂ emissions savings.