Unpredictable events such as accidents and storms, which occur more frequently due to climate change, cause considerable economic damage in continental transport chains. Intermodal transport chains such as Combined Road/Rail Freight Transport (CT) are particularly sensitive to such disruptions due to their complexity. Shippers, carriers and freight forwarders are forced to reroute their shipments to alternative routes to the nearest transshipment point or to the customer.

Together with Ren Kajiyama , we are launching the REIM research project to systematically improve resilience in intermodal transport chains. The project aims to capture the current situation and key challenges of the industry through expert interviews in order to derive a basis for resilient planning. The collected data should support decisions on the type and dimensioning of a generic transport network for the Resilient Service Network Design Problem (RSNDP) and enable an agent-based simulation model. This model is used to develop efficient and resilient planning options for SME forwarders and CT operators. Finally, the results will be prepared as recommendations for action for these target groups.

The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the program to promote joint industrial research and is now officially kicking off. Find out more about the project and how we can plan freight transportation in a resilient way.