Identifying shippers’ attitudes towards synchromodal freight transport services

Abstract

Synchromodal transport is one of the recent innovations in the area of freight transport and logistics. In synchromodal transport, transport mode and route are chosen by logistics service providers (LSP) rather than shippers. This lose of control is a fundamental trade-off for shippers against better reliability and flexibility offered by LSPs. Understanding shippers’ preferences when a large number of service combinations is introduced by LSPs in the context of synchromodal transport is not studied in the modal choice research and stated preference (SP) surveys. This research aims to capture the taste heterogeneity and dynamics of the shippers’ requirements for synchromodal transport using advanced discrete choice models. SP data are collected through a web-based survey on the 500 global fortune companies. There are two main outcomes of the study. First, estimating freight shippers’ preferences for the main attributes of the synchromodal transport service such as cost, transit time, reliability (punctuality), control, flexibility (changeability) and value-adding services (e,g., tracking and tracing, customs). Second, obtaining willingness to pay and elasticity of choice probabilities of different transport attributes for improving the service level.

Keywords: Synchromodal freight transport, shipper, supply chain, discrete choice modelling