Distributed and Dynamic Hub Network Operation Planning in a Hyperconnected Less-Than-Truckload Operating System
The less-than-truckload (LTL) industry plays a vital role in enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of logistics systems, as LTL shipments offer greater consolidation opportunities than full-truckload shipments. Despite of this flexibility, the average cost of LTL shipments remains considerably higher due to less efficient operations and highly fragmented networks of small and medium-sized carriers. Building on our ongoing effort to develop a distributed and dynamic logistics hub network system grounded in the Physical Internet (PI) principles of modular containers and open resource sharing, this study focuses specifically on inter-hub and in-hub operations, with cooperation among multiple regional hub networks. Therefore, a shipment may traverse multiple cooperating hub networks. With respect to each hub network each shipment enters, it is defined by its expected arrival time at the entry hub and its latest arrival time at the exit hub. Based on the defined shipment information, we design a set of multi-hub operation planning protocols for distributed hub operators. In their operating networks, operators use our smartly designed protocol separately to plan in-hub shipments' assignments to destination-specific trailers and inter-hub trailers' dispatch schedules. With carefully designed interconnections between hub networks, the aggregated hub network system is well-positioned to achieve cooperative outcomes and fulfill shipment requests. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol through a simulation-based experiment under multiple scenarios in an operator's multi-hub network. Overall, this research improves the practicality and robustness of PI-based networks and supports greater cooperation among hub networks toward more efficient and sustainable logistics systems.