MTI Mineta Transportation Institute
(International Institute of Surface Transportation Policy Studies (IISTPS))

Primary campus:
San Jose State University

Funding:
Federal - $750,000/ year
State - $750,000/ year

Cooperative Optimum Time Window Generation for Cargo Delivery/Pick up with Application to Container Terminals

The purpose of this proposal is to investigate methodologies to generate optimum time windows for cargo delivery/pickup at service stations (STs) taking into account the objectives and constraints of different parties involved in cargo movement. Our special interest is to study the impact of generating cooperative time window on the traffic congestion, the cost of trucking operations, and the flow of the trucks at ST gates. In particular, we plan to consider a particular container terminal as our ST location and investigate the impact of implementing the developed algorithms on the flows of containers at the gates and within the container terminal using simulation models. We plan to interact with local trucking companies and terminals in order to obtain real data to validate the simulation models and test and evaluate the developed techniques.

More efficient truck routing, increased terminal operations productivity.

Freight Routing and Containerization

In this research, methods will be created for jointly optimizing freight routing and freight containerization. The research will determine where freight should be sent for consolidation into containers, and which origin/destination pairs should be grouped together within each load. The methods will account for the combined cost of terminal operations and transportation and system capacity constraints. The research will in particular account for constraints on sorting capacity, along with deadlines for freight deliveries. A benefit of the research will be improved utilization of transportation capacity, through reducing the distance traveled by shipments and/or increasing the amount of freight loaded in each container and vehicle. In addition to the economic savings to carriers and shippers, increased capacity utilization will result in reduced vehicle emissions and energy consumption, per unit of freight transported.

More efficient goods movement; reduced truck traffic.

Measuring California’s Role in Supporting Interstate Goods Movement: Comprehensive Assessment of Interstate Freight Flows

California policy makers have shown increasing interest in the state’s role serving the goods movements requirements of all 50 states. Yet, there exists no comprehensive assessment of interstate commodity flows. The proposed research provides a systematic and easily updatable procedure for estimating interstate freight flows that are consistent with the structure of the national economy. One of advantages of the proposed approach is that it leverages existing, easily accessible, widely used data sources to produce a new model for estimating these unobserved flows.

Better method for estimating economic impacts of international trade.