A solution approach to modeling the critical factors in the strategical planning of the multi-modal transportation systems

Especially, the transportation costs in logistics, which constitutes a big part of the product costs, have a big affect on competition of the companies and even countries. To realize a positive affect, transportation industry should provide some specific performance criteria related with the economical efficiency and service quality. Also an increase in this performance degree depends on the obtaining optimum results of using the logistical resources in a convenient manner by the specialized logistics service providers. In this thesis study, considering the affects of transportation modes on constituting a model which is interested in a strategic subject like constructing a transportation network is emphasized. In the process of selecting the mostly convenient transportation modes, all the required criteria are determined by considering the related literature and the opinions of the experts. Then the analytical network process methodology is used to solve this selecting problem. The close relation between the transportation modes that will be used among the points in the network and the points that will be used for short storages and transshipment activities is considered. And the analytical network process is again used to select the convenient ones among the alternative locations. After decision making on these two important points, it is aimed that to optimize the freight flow between suppliers and the demand points by choosing the right transportation modes at each stage of the network. To realize that optimization, the aims of the decision makers from different levels or from different functional areas are satisfied in an interactive and compromised manner by using the multi-level programming technique. Finally, the proposed model is applied on a transportation project of a logistic service provider, which gives service in a multi-modal and multi-echelon transportation network, to compare with the results of the model and the current situation by using different scenarios. Keywords: Multi-modal transportation, multi-echelon transportation, analytic network process, multi-level programming, fuzzy approach.