摘要
Containerized shipping is a growing market for agricultural exports,particularly soybeans.In order to understand the optimal strategies for improving the United States’economic competitiveness in this emerging market,this research develops an intermodal transportation network modeling framework,focusing on U.S.soybean container shipments.Built upon detailed modal cost analyses,a Geospatial Intermodal Freight Transportation(GIFT)model has been developed to understand the optimal network design for U.S.soybean exports.Based on market demand and domestic supply figures,the model is able to determine which domestically produced soybeans should go to which foreign markets,and by which transport modes.This research and its continual studies,will provide insights into future policies and practices that can improve the transportation efficiency of soybean logistics.
基金
The first author was funded by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering(CEE)at Rutgers University
The second author was funded by the US Department of Agri-culture(15-TMXXX-NJ-0008)
The third author was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51409157)
Program of Humanities and Social Science of the Ministry of Education of China(14YJC630008).
