Bid price optimization for truckload carriers in simultaneous transportation procurement auctions

•Bid optimization for independent simultaneous transportation auctions.•Modeling the lowest competitor bid as a random variable.•Consideration of synergies among lanes.•Mathematical model maximizing carrier’s expected profit.•Demonstrated benefits of using bid price optimization technology.

We study simultaneous transportation procurement auctions from a truckload carrier’s perspective. We formulate a stochastic bid price optimization model aimed at maximizing the carrier’s expected profit. The model accounts for synergies among lanes and competing carriers’ bid patterns. We develop an iterative coordinate search algorithm to find high-quality solutions. The benefits of employing the bid price optimization technology are demonstrated through computational experiments involving a simulated marketplace.