General purpose:

This PhD aims to develop innovative synchromodal collaboration models and tools that will enable an intermodal shift in transport modes from road to rail, inland waterways and shortsea in order to unlock economical, ecological and social benefits and to get to the 50% modal shift vision as per the EU whitepaper (European Commission, 2011).

Concrete objectives and criteria

The objective of the research is threefold: 1) to provide concrete operational models to implement synchromodality (see section 2.2 for definition), where loads are routed and scheduled based on their urgency. 2) to provide models which combine collaborative flows taking into account geographical, cost, service and inventory parameters. 3) to research collaborative purchasing models for logistics services (transportation, warehousing,...), building further on the theory of collaborative economics.

The first goal is to develop concrete models to support companies implement synchromodal flows on its network where goods will be routed and scheduled based on their urgency. The tools will categorize Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) and propose the optimal routes, transportation schedules and modal splits. SKUs that are flexible in terms of requested shipping date could help create a more stable supply of loads. This will facilitate the implementation of daily train connections between intermodal terminals. By consulting and
using data of multiple shippers on the CargoStream platform, the tools will highlight synchromodal collaboration opportunities.

Secondly, collaborative shipping opportunities need to be explored on a scale that is much more scaled versus the project-based approach we see today. The goal is to build tools that propose new collaborations in a networked environment with multiple partners. The developed model should provide a good and comprehensive overview of the impact of collaboration on the logistics costs, which can be used for gain sharing calculations among different stakeholders in the supply chain. This should strengthen the growth of
the CargoStream community (see section 2.4 for an extensive overview of the CargoStream project).

The third goal consists of developing and researching collaborative purchasing models. Research is required as collaborative purchasing models will be a key point to scale and sustain synchromodal collaboration. To meet this goal, a collaborative business model will be delivered which is useable and easily re-applicable to further extend and grow the CargoStream community.