A technique for the optimal management of containers' drayage at intermodal terminals

This paper focuses on optimizing one of the most critical activities in door-to-door intermodal transportation, i.e., the containers' drayage by road. We present a technique to solve in an exact and optimal way the pick-up and delivery problem under the typical assumptions of intermodal transportation: full truck load, split delivery, clustered backhauls, and time windows. The method allows limiting the distance traveled by road, enabling to match a delivery with a pick-up request, while respecting customers' service time windows, vehicles availability, and rental needs. Thus, intermodal companies can manage vehicle routing and scheduling problems in an integrated way. The technique effectiveness is shown by a real case study.