Simulation of intermodal freight transportation systems: a taxonomy

Intermodal transportation refers to multimodal chains or networks involving at least two transportation modes, freight being packed into a “container” and not being handled at intermodal-transfer terminals on its trip from its origin to its destination. This characterization makes intermodal transportation a multi-actor complex system involving a broad range of interacting stakeholders, decision makers, operations, and planning activities. Due to this complexity, simulation is much studied and used within the field of operations research, yielding models, methods, and tools to manage transportation activities and support the decision-making processes. The literature includes a large number of contributions on particular issues, but a broad view of the field is still missing. This paper aims to fill this gap, using a new taxonomy to structure the recent relevant literature. The proposed taxonomy thus appears a useful instrument to classify the literature and support further analyzes, identifying main findings, trends, and future paths of intermodal freight transportation systems across several dimensions (e.g., modes, geographical extensions, time horizons, and simulation objectives).