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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Impacts of Different Low-carbon Policies on Route Decisions in Intermodal Freight Transportation: The Case of the West River Region in China

Different low-carbon policies usually result in the variety of decisions on an exact amount of carbon emission, especially in the industry with more environmental concerns. To analyze the impacts of low-carbon policies on route decisions during the process of intermodal freight transportation (IFT), this paper investigates how an IFT enterprise chooses the optimal route under three kinds of low-carbon policies (the carbon cap policy, the carbon tax and the cap-and-trade policy). Firstly, the authors confirm the direct costs, time and carbon emissions (CO2) during transportation (on arcs) and transfer (in nodes). And then, a basic model for route decisions in IFT is proposed, which is a bi-objective optimization model minimizing total direct cost and total emissions. Finally, the authors extend the basic model into three integer programming models under corresponding policies after a brief introduction of them. The IFT system of the West River region in southern China is investigated to illustrate decision-making characteristics under three low-carbon policies mentioned above. The network of this transportation system consists of 10 nodes and three kinds of transportation modes (roadway, railway and inland waterway), which represents a typical medium-sized ITF system. Numerical experiments show that low-carbon policies impact IFT route decisions in different ways, (1) the cap policy can always reduce IFT emissions effectively if the authors set a proper emission limit. Under a loose or strict lead time, the minimum carbon emissions and transportation cost can be achieved simultaneously, while under a moderate lead time, the most environmentally-friendly route sacrifices the monetary benefit .(2) Carbon tax can sometimes reduce emission, but the corresponding tax rate may be much higher than a reasonable one. The reason why carbon tax cannot always reduce IFT emissions effectively is that the cost of carbon emissions under carbon tax policy accounts for a relatively low proportion of the total cost. (3) The emission reduction of the cap-and-trade policy is less than that of carbon tax policy. Because carbon tax policy covers all carbon emissions, while the cost of emissions generated under the capand-trade policy is only the portion that exceeds the emission limit. The paper provides guidelines for emission reduction in IFT. It’s suggested that a combined emission regulation based on the cap policy is preferred currently to achieve emission reduction in IFT. Transportation sectors with lower emissions intensity like waterway and railway could take advantage of those policies to promote their own proportion.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the International Forum on Shipping, Ports and Airports (IFSPA) 2019: Beyond Breakthroughs, Above Excellence

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01741102
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9789887408406
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: May 26 2020 5:26PM