Abstract:Purpose: Targeting the problem of overloaded trucking regarding the Highway Transportation of iron ore from Caofeidian to Tangshan (HTCT), this paper aims to assess the long-term effects of alternative Truck Weight Regulation (TWR) policies on the sustainability of the
HTCT.Design/methodology/approach: This paper develops a model for policy evaluation using System Dynamics (SD). The model, comprising six interrelated modules, is capable of simulating the effects of TWR policies on trucking issues, such as freight flow, truck traffic flow, pavement performance, highway transport capacity and trucking time. The model further sheds light on the Cumulative Economic Cost (CEC), including the transport cost and time cost of freight owners, and the Cumulative Social Cost (CSC), including the pavement maintenance cost, greenhouse gas emission cost, atmospheric pollutants emission cost and traffic accidents cost, so the effects of TWR policies on the sustainability of the HTCT could be evaluated. expected by the local government. To be specific, (1) if CSC is considered to be much less important than CEC, the local government should continue implementing TTP with the maximum overload ratio; (2) if CSC is considered to be much more important than CEC, then TRP is recommended; and (3) if CSC is considered to be slightly more important than CEC, TMP with an overload ratio of 80% is best.
Practical implications:The conclusions of this paper may help the local government design appropriate TWR policies to achieve the sustainability of the HTCT.Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort to evaluate TWR policies on the sustainability of the highway freight system based on SD.