Effective trailer transport operations - using information sharing from a LSP perspective

Paper i proceeding, 2009

Purpose of this paper This paper intends to outline potential areas for improvement in intermodal transport operations and present a model for information sharing and effective transport operations. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on an extensive information requirements study involving all the actors in an international transportation setup. An in-depth study of the involved actors was carried out and the requirements of effective transportation operations were extracted through literature studies, interviews, observations and document studies. Findings The results of this research indicate that transportation operations have a large potential for improvement in several stages of the setup. Actors in the transportation setup need to share and more importantly use information extensively in order to achieve more effective transportation operations. A model of effective transport operations is proposed and validated through a validation case, a prototype setup and a pilot project. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) Due to the massive amount of work required to map a complete transport involving several countries and operators, this research was carried out as a single case study. Practical implications (if applicable) The feasibility of large improvements in transport operation effectiveness. What is original/value of paper This paper provides findings from both an in-depth study of a transport setup and a model on information sharing that has been practically tested and validated.