TRUCK BACKHAULING ON TWO TERMINAL NETWORKS

Truck backhauling reduces empty truck-miles by having drivers haul loads on trips back to their home terminal. This paper (1) examines the impact on backhauling opportunities of terminal locations and directional imbalances in the flow of freight from the terminals, and (2) develops a method for determining which truckloads should be backhauled. Backhauling is studied for two terminals sending full truckloads to many customers under steady-state conditions. This research develops two backhauling models. The first is a continuous model that makes simplifying assumptions about customer locations and travel distances. It results in formulae showing that (1) savings from backhauling increase at a decreasing rate as the directional flow of freight between two terminals becomes more balanced and (2) backhauling is an important, but often ignored, factor in terminal (e.g. trucking terminal, warehouse, or plant) location and supplier selection decisions. The second model is a more general discrete model that determines which loads should be backhauled to minimize empty truck-miles. (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01912615
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Headington Hill Hall
  Oxford OX30BW,    
• Authors:
  • Jordan, W C
  • Burns, L D
• Publication Date: 1984-12

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 487-503
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
  • Volume: 18B
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0191-2615
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01912615

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Back haul; Commodities; Costs; Directional distribution; Freight traffic; Freight transportation; Intermodal terminals; Loads; Location; Mathematical models; Origin and destination; Savings; Traffic flow; Travel; Trip length; Trucks; Types of traffic; Vehicle miles of travel
• Uncontrolled Terms: Models; Terminus; Traffic direction
• ITRD Terms: 6471: Analysis (math); 224: Cost; 284: Delivery; 626: Direction (traffic); 5911: Efficiency; 283: Freight; 741: Goods traffic; 698: Journey; 5567: Load; 9061: Location; 1236: Lorry; 6473: Mathematical model; 5149: Mechanical handling; 1054: Network (traffic); 9055: Operational research; 687: Origin destination traffic; 1074: Terminus; 671: Traffic flow; 292: Vehicle mile
• Subject Areas: Finance; Freight Transportation; Highways; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Terminals and Facilities; I71: Traffic Theory; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00399425
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 25 2004 2:43AM