Application of SIMUS method for assessment alternative transport policies for container carriage

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the container transportation by rail and by road as alternative policies for carriage and to choose the effective one. A methodology to evaluate both transportation and ranking them has been developed. The Sequential Interactive Modelling for Urban Systems (SIMUS) as a tool to aid decision-making problems with multiple objectives has been applied. The methodology of the research includes two scenarios taking into account the weights of criteria -the first scenario does not use the weights of criteria and for the second one it is necessary to apply the weights which are pre-defined. The methodology of the research includes four steps. The first step defines the quantitative and qualitative criteria for assessment of container transportation. The investigated strategies for transportation that have been studied are intermodal rail transport and road transport. The weighs of criteria have been determined in the second step. They are used only in the second scenario. The third step of the research formulates the alternatives of carriage by containers and includes two ways of transportation: by container block trains and by trucks. The SIMUS method has been applied in the fourth step for ranking the variants of transportation. The method solves successive scenarios formulated as linear programming. This step involves ranking of alternatives and the choice of optimal type of transportation. The methodology is approbated for the routes Sofia-Varna from the railway and road network of Bulgaria. It was found that the technologies that include rail transport are the best variants of transportation. The methodology can be applied for assessment different types of transportation and different transport policies.

Multi-criteria approaches for choosing intermodal technology for container transportation

“…The research was conducted in the following conditions: The carriage by railway transport is by block freight trains composed of 20 wagons; gross train weight 1086 t. The wagons are loaded with 40foot containers (intermodal transport unit -UTI) with gross mass 20t. The parameters of research are according to the data given in [6,7]. The decision matrix is represented in Table 1.…”

“…The best alternative according to [6] is alternative A2 (Freight block train: Sofia-Karlovo-Karnobat-Varna). The best alternative according to [7] is alternative A1 (Freight block train: Sofia-Gorna Oryahovitsa-Varna). The difference of ranking between [6] and [7] is due to the way the weights of the criteria have been calculated.…”

“…The best alternative according to [7] is alternative A1 (Freight block train: Sofia-Gorna Oryahovitsa-Varna). The difference of ranking between [6] and [7] is due to the way the weights of the criteria have been calculated. In the study [7] the weights of criteria are not taken into account as a linear programming has been used; while in [6] the weights have been considered.…”

“…In [6; 7] eleven criteria have been studied to determine the best mode and route for container carriage. The PROMETHEE method (Preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation) [6] and SIMUS method [7] have been applied. The criteria include CO2 emission, operational costs, transport fare, infrastructure charges, duration of transportation, transport door to door, transhipment operations, comfort, security, reliability, safety.…”

Identifying Critical Risk Factors in Green Product Certification Using Hybrid Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making

“…Baszkiewicz et al conducted the comparative analysis of solar panels using two newly developed MCDM methods: COMET combined with TOPSIS and SPOTIS resistant to the rank reversal phenomenon [44]. Stoilova applied SIMUS as a tool to assess alternative transport policies for container carriage [45]. Stoilova et al analyzed the policies of Bulgarian railway operators using SWOT criteria and the SIMUS method.…”