A New Model for Sea-Rail Intermodal Transportation Network System Planning Considering the Arctic Route

The opening of the Arctic route will greatly shorten the distance of navigation and save costs. This research was mainly focus on hierarchical hub locations for rail-sea container transportation network system planning considering the Arctic Route. According to the characteristics of integrated network including the Arctic route, a new mathematical model was established by juxtaposing the traditional idea of hierarchical hub and hub arc location. Benders decomposition method was used to transform and solve the mixed integer nonlinear model. Based on the analysis of the Arctic route example, it could be indicated that the number of central hubs directly affects the transportation cost and location of hubs. This study provides a certain direction for a shipping company to choose hubs after the opening of the Arctic route in the future and also made sense for the rail-sea intermodal transportation system from a strategic consideration.