The Study Of Container Freight Rate Pricing Of Railway And Freight Subsidy Level Of Rail-sea Intermodal Transportation

With the rapid development of container shipping, the collection and distribution system of container port is gradually improved. As an important way of container transportation, the rail-sea intermodal transportation has been paid great attention to. However, the relatively slow development of container railway transportation restricts the growing of rail-sea intermodal transportation. Due to the fact that the railway transportation resolution is just getting started, the freight mechanism is inflexible. The freight rate restriction limits the competition among different competitors and impedes the market-oriented management reform.The container freight rate of railway is related to the profit of railway transport companies and the transport costs of cargo owners, and thus it is critical to influence the transport demand of cargo owners and transport method selection. It can also determine the competitiveness of port. The determination of container freight rate is not only an important part of railway transport economy, but a major strategic problem to be solved in rail-sea intermodal transportation. The port authorities and local governments should introduce polices about rail-sea intermodal transportation. In this context, this paper studies the container freight rate determination of railway and freight rate subsidy policy of rail-sea transportation.First, by reading articles, the current development situation of container transport by railway is concluded, and the problem of freight rate determination and rail-sea intermodal transportation subsidy policy is analyzed. The importance of freight rate level and the amount of subsidy is proposed. Second, the influence of variation of container railway freight rate and the rail-sea freight rate subsidy policy have on port selection and port competitiveness is analyzed. A model aimed at maximizing profit of container railway transportation operators and the profit of port that provides rail-sea freight subsidy is built. This model determines the freight scheme and subsidy. Heuristic algorithm is applied to solve this model. Third, container cargo owners in Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and eastern Inner Mongolia are selected to conduct case study. Questionnaires are distributed to them to analyze factors that influence their port selection and inland transportation method selection decision. The parameters in model are determined according to the surveyed results, and related data are collected as input to solve model. Last, a conclusion is drawn and the inadequacy of this paper is put forward.The study demonstrates that the container freight rate determination of railway and the rail-sea subsidy that takes demand variation into consideration is reasonable, and the freight rate scheme and subsidy strategy is practical. The container freight rate and rail-sea subsidy strategy proposed in this paper can provide theoretical guidance for decision makers.