A Model of Port-Hinterland Freight Network by Locating Distribution Centers (Case Study: Iran)

Global logistics includes transportation in land and sea side. In land, trains and trucks are used to transport goods. The design of the transportation network and connection between land and sea includes determining the location of distribution centers and their connections with the maritime ports. Determining the optimal location and capacity of distribution centers and type of transportation means for the delivery of goods between sea ports, distribution centers and customer nodes, has a high importance in the distribution network's efficiency. In this research, a two-objective math programming model is proposed for locating distribution centers in which multimodal transport is used to connect the port and hinterland. In this model, the internal and external supply and demand flows of each node are intended to determine the location of distribution centers or terminals in hinterland, with the aim of minimizing the transport costs as and pollution caused by vehicles. In this study, the modified Epsilon method has been used to solve the problem. The results of the research showed that the construction of distribution centers and the development of transportation modes should be in the range of 96 to 106 billion dollars. Also, the amount of carbon dioxide produced in each of these investments will be about 40 to 56 million tons a year.