A conceptual model for intermodal freight logistics centre location decisions

The persistent growth of freight traffic congestion and air pollution in urban areas and the increase of imbalance and inefficiency in land use development drive public authorities and users to find alternative logistics solutions to ease the freight traffic problem. Intermodal freight logistics centres play an important role in achieving socio-economic and environmental sustainability by enhancing an optimal integration of different modes to provide an efficient and cost-effective use of the transport system through customer-oriented, door-to-door services while favouring competition among transport operators. An efficient logistics centre structure may lead to a significant profit and return on investment as well as a significantly increased competitive advantage in the market place by meeting strategic commercial objectives, where determination of the location is a key factor in enhancing the efficiency of urban freight transport systems and initializing relative sufficient supply chain activities. Hence, public authorities should consider the importance of this topic by any given decision in terms of strong economical, social and environmental implications before announcing an area as a logistics centre. The objective of this study is to explore the applicability of the way for the development of a conceptual model based on a combination of the fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and artificial neural networks (ANN) methods in the process of decision-making in order to select the most appropriate location. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the concept of proposed model.