Reengineering the Seaport Container Truck Hauling Process : Reducing Empty Slot Trips for Transport Capacity Improvement

PurposeEmpty container trucks may cause a deficit in transport capacity and contribute to congestion and emissions in the port territory. Reengineering of the container truck hauling process to introduce truck-sharing arrangements using the truck appointment system has the potential of reducing the number of empty-truck trips. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis research evaluates the results from an investigation of the truck appointment system using a case study approach. The data collection phase involved primary and secondary sources along with using publicly available data on port operations.FindingsThe study explores a dynamic truck-sharing facility for a computer-based matching system to assign probable export containers to available empty slots of a container truck. The proposed model reengineers the truck appointment system with a potential to reduce the number of empty-truck trips to increase container transport capacity around seaport gates.Research limitations/implicationsDue to continuous increases in container-freight traffic, leading seaports of the world are experiencing a capacity shortage resulting in traffic congestion. The research findings are useful in practice as the proposed truck-sharing model can be introduced to enhance capacity in the container transport chain of the port territory.Originality/valueThe empty-trucks problem has not been addressed much in studies from a decentralized perspective where all truck operators have an equal chance to contribute to optimize the supply chain in contrast with the typical one-company-based optimization. The solution addressed here uses the shared-transportation concept to cover the research gap.Full paper available at https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-Jun-2012-0059