LAUSR

This paper studies the impacts of a cross-chain collaboration center model (4CM) on bulk transportation network performance. The 4CM is based on the interaction and collaboration between shippers and carriers participating in the transportation network. The network formulation is based on collaborative bidirectional multi-period vehicle routing (CBMVRP). The performance of the 4CM is represented by three transportation performance indices, including the percentage differences in the total cost, shipper cost and carrier cost between the 4CM and single-chain collaboration model (SCCM). The impacts of the 4CM are investigated using five uncertain input parameters: fuel cost, holding cost, maximum acceptable proportion of the differences between the cost of a carrier and average cost of all carriers, demand per job and number of vehicles per carrier. An experiment was conducted according to a central composite design (CCD). The proposed methodology was applied to assess bulk transportation in Thailand. The computational results revealed that a 4CM can significantly reduce the differences in the total cost, shipper cost and carrier cost. Moreover, we organized a focus group to collect data about the criteria and the probability of changing from an SCCM to a 4CM of the case study network and generated a classification tree of the levels of possibility to change from an SCCM to a 4CM for each possible situation using the ID3 algorithm.