Systems analysis of freight transportation networks

The shipping community including ports, shippers, freight forwards, regulatory agencies, public agencies, and governments has well documented needs to understand how these end-to-end freight transportation networks operate. These groups also need the tools to assess the performance of the networks and evaluate impacts that proposed changes may have on the entire system.; A systems analysis based methodology has been developed to meet these needs. This methodology provides a tool for evaluating the individual components and aggregate performance of entire freight transportation networks. It also provides a structured approach for conducting “what-if” scenarios and benefit/cost analyses.; This methodology can be applied to any freight transportation network as long as the individual modeled components have consistent measurement statistics.; The methodology, including a “what-if” scenario analysis, was applied to a transportation network between the Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan, the Port of Tacoma in Washington State and the United States-Canada border near Blaine, Washington. The results provided insight on benefit/cost relationships of improvements and demonstrated the importance of analyzing entire networks when evaluating freight transportation improvements.; This approach fills a significant void in the state-of-the-art, it provides defensible results, and should be considered whenever improvements or modifications related to freight transportation networks are proposed.