Integration of Inland Waterway Transport in the Intermodal Supply Chain: a Joint Research Agenda

This paper identifies research opportunities which will enable the further integration of inland waterway transport in the intermodal supply chain. Intermodal transport may be interpreted as a chain of actors who supply a transport service. Inland navigation can play a crucial role in increasing supply chain service performance. A first group of research challenges has the objective to encourage efficient operations in IWT: development of a system wide model for IWT, integration of operational planning systems and analysis of bundling networks. A second group of research efforts is directed towards shippers and consignees who use the intermodal transport chain to send or receive their goods: further development of models that integrate intermodal transport decisions with supply chain decisions and creation of green supply chains. A third group of research challenges concerns the problem domain of external cost calculations. Finally detailed time series data on freight transport should be collected to support these future research tracks.

ISBN:978-2-87223-209-3

Trefwoorden:Transport, Inland waterway, Intermodal, Supply Chain, Research agenda