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The Importance of Optimizing the Use of Road Freight Transport

As freight transportation has become more complex it has become less common for cargo to be shipped from point to point and often loads are using several intermodal methods in one journey. While the cost effectiveness of shipping and rail networks has continued to improve, the cost of using trucks for transport has spiraled upwards. Rising fuel costs and increased awareness of the need for greater regulation of the trucking industry have seen road transport become the focus of calls for greater efficiency in our use of trucks to transport goods. There is a growing need to find the most efficient ways to transport goods from place to place since the volume of cargo that is shipped expected to rise by as much as 130% by 2030 in many places1. Part of the solution to these rising volumes of cargo has been to increase the size of the trucks that transport it. However, this is becoming increasingly impractical as many urban areas restrict their entry. At the same time trucks will remain a vital part of the transport chain and the focus of most studies has been to find the best way to use those trucks within the larger context of the intermodal shipping networks2. It is conceded that the rail… read more »