AbstractAirlines typically carry out freight transportation in a hub and spoke structure, where the movements between the outstations and the hub are served by trucks. To transport freight efficiently, air carriers must consider bundling options for shipments that are delivered at outstations and have to be moved to the hub. There are three options when it comes to bundling freight: on ‘through unit load devices’ (T-ULD) (all freight for the same flight at the hub), on ‘mixed unit load devices’ (M-ULD) (freight for different flights at the hub) and loose freight in trucks. The optimal freight bundling configuration for carriers, taking into account their main KPIs (key performance indicators), is unknown. This research formulates the problem as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, allowing carriers to decide which configuration is optimal for a given outstation. The selected KPIs (cost, (un)loading time, and quality) are formulated as mathematical functions. A new MCDM, called best worst method (BWM), is then used to identify the best configuration with respect to the three KPIs. The proposed methodology is applied to KLM Cargo to identify the best configuration for the selected outstations that supply freight to the KLM hub at Schiphol Airport. This case study shows that there are different optimal freight bundling configurations for different outstations and that trucking costs and freight handling tariffs are among the key factors in deciding which configuration is optimal.

    HighlightsThree freight bundling options for carriers are investigated (T-ULD, M-ULD, Loose).The bundling configuration is formulated as a multi-criteria decision-making problem.To find the best option three KPIs (cost, (un)loading time, quality) are considered.The methodology is applied to outstations supply freight to KLM at Schiphol Airport.There are different optimal freight bundling configuration for different outstation.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Multi-criteria decision-making for complex bundling configurations in surface transportation of air freight


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2016-02-07


    Size :

    11 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Freight transportation network model with bundling option

    Myung, Young-Soo / Yu, Yung-Mok | Elsevier | 2019


    Freight bundling network models: methodology and application

    Jourquin, Bart / Beuthe, Michel / Demilie, Christian Laurent | Taylor & Francis Verlag | 1999




    Multidimensional resource allocation for freight transportation project planning and decision making

    Bhattarai, Santosh / Golias, Mihalis M. / Mishra, Sabyasachee et al. | Elsevier | 2020