Container drayage modelling with graph theory-based road connectivity assessment for sustainable freight transportation in new development area

Abstract

Densely populated cities, suffered from land scarcity, are often encountered the need of exploring new development areas. This initiative in developed cities usually includes reconsolidating container depots and proposing multi-storey cargo centre as part of urban development roadmap. Changes on road network and connectivity between ports and container depots affect the efficiency of container drayage operations. A novel container drayage optimization model incorporating the road network and connectivity metrics is developed to minimise the total traveling distance, truck fuel cost, container rental cost and container movements among multiple consignees and shippers. The model is adopted in assessing the container logistics low between the ports and the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area (HSKNDA) in Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. In assessing the impact of HSKNDA towards container drayage operations in the environment of congested urban area, the road logistics connectivity is evaluated with graph theory-based network metrics using ArcGIS. Road network files are analysed using ArcMap and the road connectivity are evaluated on its completeness, circuitry and complexity using road connectivity metrics and ArcMap. The road connectivity of the circumstances before and after HSKNDA are evaluated and the results revealed that the alpha, beta and gamma indexes changed slightly but the node number, link number and link length are decreased, benefiting container truck movements. The results have been adopted in optimising the container drayage problem in HSKNDA, the operating cost has been reduced in four simulated scenarios when compared to the results obtained by the traditional approach. The proposed approach integrates the GIS and optimisation modelling to improve the effectiveness and reduce operating cost in container drayage process, contributing to the research with the development of the integrated novel container drayage model as a smart urban logistics for sustainable freight transportation and the evaluation of the road connectivity on the new development area. It provides optimal solutions for ship liners and logistics firms in restructuring the physical logistics network, enhancing liner operations efficiency, mitigating carbon emission, and enabling a higher quality of living in the city.