New decision and control techniques for smart intermodal transport

Nowadays, considering the massive growth of road transport and its related problems, smart transport has become an important research field. The present paper concerns the development of new decision and control techniques for Intermodal Transport (IT). We consider some of the most critical aspects concerning the management of IT at the tactical and operational level. Indeed, we model and simulate the behavior of Intermodal Transport Terminals (ITTs) to evaluate their performance and asses their efficiency. Moreover, we present optimization techniques for the routing of road transport means and their fleet management, for freight load composition on transport means, and for managing the containers allocation in the terminal storage yard in ITTs. The techniques have been applied to the rail-road inland terminal of a leading Italian intermodal logistics company to prove their effectiveness and ease of use.