IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transe/v41y2005i6p567-583.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards collaborative, intermodal hub networks: A case study in the fast moving consumer goods market

Author

Listed:
  • Groothedde, Bas
  • Ruijgrok, Cees
  • Tavasszy, Lóri

Abstract

Collaborative hub networks can provide an answer to the need to decrease logistics cost and maintain logistics service levels by shifting consolidated flows to modes that are better suited for handling large volumes (rail, barge, coastal shipping), so economies of scale can be obtained. This necessity has been increased by the tendency of globalization of industries, smaller shipments sizes, high frequencies, and the fragmentation of flows. Through collaboration the necessary synchronization between expensive but fast and flexible means of transport and inexpensive, but slow and inflexible means can be combined in an intermodal hub network. This paper shows the rationale behind these collaborative hub networks, based on the literature on the design of many-to-many hub networks. The resulting methodology is explained through presenting the results of the design and implementation of collaborative hub network for the distribution of fast moving consumer goods using a combination of trucking and inland barges. This concept, first proposed by Vermunt [Vermunt, A.J.M., 1999. Multilognet, the intelligent multimodal logistics network, an important node in the worldwide logistics net, Vermunt Logistiek Advies v.o.f., working paper (in Dutch)], won the European Intermodal Award of the European Intermodal Association in 2003, and after extensive research was launched in The Netherlands as a commercial pilot by logistics service provider Vos Logistics and barge operator Riverhopper in January 2004.

Suggested Citation

  • Groothedde, Bas & Ruijgrok, Cees & Tavasszy, Lóri, 2005. "Towards collaborative, intermodal hub networks: A case study in the fast moving consumer goods market," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 567-583, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:41:y:2005:i:6:p:567-583
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554505000475
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:41:y:2005:i:6:p:567-583. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.