Shipper’s utility functions according to commodity groups and freight modal split

The United States freight transportation network consists of railroads, highways, waterways, pipelines, and airways. It carries the flow of commodities along the supply chains from the origin of production to the destination of consumption. The already congested transportation system faces fast-growing freight demands. The annual freight volume is expected to grow from 19 billion tons in 2022 to at least 29 billion tons in 2050, according to the US Bureau of Statistics. Imports and exports account for over 13% of the total freight volume and will grow at a much faster rate than domestic freight. The mode and route choices of shippers will play an important role in network performance and in the planning consideration of planners and public policy makers because they determine the freight volumes on the network according to their modes, and therefore determine congestion and delay on the routes. From a microscopic and operational perspective, to address bottlenecks and choke points on the network requires understanding of the shipper’s choice of mode and routes. Shippers make their rational choices based on the premise of maximizing their utility functions. The research team proposed to study the utility functions and other means for route and mode choices by the shippers. However, shipper’s choices also have to do with the commodity types. For example, higher value commodities such as machinery or electronic products may be less sensitive to the price charged than bulk commodities. The goal of the project is to propose a framework for predicting the network commodity flows that policy makers and planners may use. The midterm goal of the effort is twofold. The first is to explore the format of the shipper’s utility function in their decision of mode and route choices. The Second is to study the differences between the utility functions of different commodity groups by using a few groups that have data available. This project focuses on exploring the shippers’ utility function: the format and calibration by using example commodity groups specifically.

• Record URL:
  https://fersc.utk.edu/research-focus/fersc-projects-year-2/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $326100
• Contract Numbers:

  69-A3552348338

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Center for Freight Transportation for Efficient and Resilient Supply Chain

  University of Tennessee Knoxville
  Knoxville, TN  United States  37996
• Project Managers:

  Bruner, Britain

  Kaplan, Marcella

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M University, College Station

  Zachry Department of Civil Engineering
  3136 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3136

  University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  John D. Tickle Building
  Knoxville, TN  United States  37886
• Principal Investigators:

  Wang, Bruce

  Han, Lee

  Zhang, Yunlong

• Start Date: 20240801
• Expected Completion Date: 20250731
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Commodity flow; Freight transportation; Logistics; Mode choice; Route choice
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01929241
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Freight Transportation for Efficient and Resilient Supply Chain
• Contract Numbers: 69-A3552348338
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 29 2024 5:00PM