Road Transport: Models And Common Concepts

As the most popular method of transporting goods today, road transport uses vehicles such as cars, trucks, containers, trailers, semi-trailers, etc., to transport goods.

This article will cover different models in road transport and the common concepts associated with those models.

1. Distribution Center (DC) Model

The Distribution Center Model is a model in which goods are transported from the manufacturer to the point of delivery and then delivered to the customer. Its goal is to ensure that the goods can reach the customer directly at the lowest cost. It also poses a problem of optimizing the delivery route (Vehicle Routing Problem) that the company needs to resolve.

A whole delivery route of a vehicle, consisting of two shifts (from 08:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 15:30) and five trips (Trip 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

2. Pickup and Delivery Problem (PDP) Model

The Pickup and Delivery Problem (PDP) Model is a specific model developed from the VRP model. In this model, the vehicles start from the Depot, but instead of loading products at the Depot, they will travel to one or two locations, known as the Origin customer, and load products there. After that, they will deliver products to one location, known as the Destination customer.

There are two kinds of PDP order:

• Less than Truckload order (Abbreviated as LTL order): The vehicle will pick up products at multiple Origin customers and deliver them to one Destination customer.

• Full Truckload order (Abbreviated as FTL order): The vehicle will pick up products at one Origin customer and deliver them to one Destination customer.

3. Freight Transport Model

Freight transport is the transportation model in which products are transported in containers between ports (Dry ports and Seaports). This model flexibly combines different means of transport to meet the unique needs of businesses.

This model is divided into two sub-models:

• Freight Transport - Road model: This model uses semi-trailer trucks to carry containers between dry ports. The containers will, later on, be distributed on the mainland.

Nguồn ảnh

• Freight Transport - Barge model: This model uses barges to carry containers between inland waterways. The containers will, later on, be gathered and loaded onto a vessel to travel to other countries.

Source