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Truck transportation is considered as a favourable mode by shippers to carry freight at most ranges of distance as it has more flexibility in fleet size, capacity, scheduling, routing, and access. Although truck is considered as the popular mode for freight transportation, road-rail intermodal freight transportation becomes an attractive alternative to road only mode since the latter has no longer assured a reliable service due to traffic congestion problem. It also raises public concern in environmental and road safety impacts. Intermodal freight transportation is defined as a system that carries freight from origin to destination using two or more transportation modes where transfers between modes occur at an intermodal freight terminal. Success of the terminal depends on four major factors, namely: location, efficiency, financial sustainability, and rail level of service. Among these, the location is one of the most crucial success factors and needs to be considered carefully as it has direct and indirect impacts on a number of stakeholders including terminal users, terminal operators, transport network infrastructure providers, and community. Limitations of previous terminal location evaluation models in representing individual preference and behaviour as well as accommodating negotiation and communication between the players bring in an opportunity to develop a new model which is more flexible and capable of providing a solution that is not necessary to be optimal, but acceptable for every player without requiring explicit trade-offs. This thesis is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of applying an agent-based approach to the evaluation of intermodal freight terminal location and investigating terminal effectiveness against stakeholder equity and some important aspects arising from the different stakeholders’ viewpoints. Agent technologies were introduced to model the stakeholders as individual agents. The agent concept was adopted to develop a decentralised location evaluation system that is able to balance the terminal effectiveness with the stakeholder equity. The proposed agent-based location evaluation model was modelled as a hierarchical control system that comprises three decision levels: local level, stakeholder level and policy level. Policy level is the highest decision level, which is represented by a policy maker. Apart from the policy level, the rest can be viewed as operational decision levels. Local level is the lowest control level. At this level, each stakeholder was classified into stakeholder groups based on their characteristics and interest. The terminal scenarios were then evaluated based on benefit maximisation criteria. Stakeholder control is the higher control level than the local level. It represents the control level where negotiations and decisions between groups of people (stakeholders) with different point of views are made. At this level, negotiation process was used to determine terminal location based on preference and equity of stakeholders. The determined terminal site was then used in the evaluation against constraints to ensure that all agents are satisfied. The terminal location decision for South East Queensland (SEQ) was applied as a case study of this thesis. The SEQ strategic freight transport model was developed, calibrated, and validated to assist in providing inputs for the evaluation of terminal location. The results indicated that for the developed agent-based location evaluation model, Yatala was selected as the most appropriate terminal location that results in the highest effectiveness and equity (as measured by level of satisfaction and Gini coefficient, respectively). Other location evaluation models were also used in comparison with the developed agent-based location evaluation model. Those include P-Median, P-Centre, and maximum covering models. It was found that the agent-based location evaluation model outperformed the other location evaluation models. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the consistency of model outputs against the uncertainties in the input parameters. In most cases, the terminal location decisions obtained from the developed agent-based location evaluation model was not sensitive to the changes in those parameters. However, the results suggested that when a unit cost of truck travel delay increased, the impact on the final terminal location decisions was observed. This thesis demonstrated the feasibility of applying a decentralised approach to terminal location decision problem using a multi-agent concept and evaluating it against other well-known location problems. A new framework and methodology for the planning of intermodal terminal location evaluation was also formulated. Finally, the problems of terminal location evaluation and optimisation of intermodal freight terminal operation were integrated into a single evaluation model.

Background: In the past, enterprises had no recognition of information integration and operated as independent units within a chain. As a result, most of the firms throughout the supply chain faced inadequate information sharing, lack of collaboration, and absence of compatible IT infrastructure. Theses three elements play a crucial role in information integration that assists companies’ goal congruence. In a highly competitive market, companies from different industries take these three elements into consideration in order to synchronize their activities. Nowadays, transportation industry plays a crucial role in all developed countries in order to fulfill the customer’s needs and act as a connection between manufacturers and consumers. Intermodal freight transportation is one of the elements of transportation industry that includes two main players - freight company and terminal operator. In this respect, it is essential to review theoretical framework and explore the practice of information integration within intermodal freight transportation. Hence, this study carries an investigation on information integration in accordance with theoretical framework from the perspective of the dyad that includes a freight company and a terminal operator. Purpose: The research defines the level of information integration within intermodal freight transportation. A freight company and a terminal operator are the players studied in this research. Three elements of information integration, which are collaboration, information sharing, and IT implementation and adaptation, are investigated in order to identify the level of information integration. The main objective is to understand the information integration and its level within the industry from a dyadic perspective. Method: This research is conducted from a positivist scientific perspective along with qualitative research method and deductive approach. The authors conduct the embedded multiple-case study with a dyadic perspective. In this context, the freight companies and terminal operators are the studied players within this research. In order to gather the empirical data, semi- structured interviews are conducted via telephone and email. Empirical data is analyzed by utilizing two different methods, which are within-case and cross-case analysis. Furthermore, ethical issues are considered in this research, based upon trustworthiness and accuracy. Result and Conclusions: The conclusion of this research is based upon within and cross case analysis. Three studied dyads have shown the same result of medium level, while one dyad has demonstrated high level of information integration. In this regard, each dyad has been rated separately in accordance with the theoretical framework that provides scale with low, medium and high levels regarding collaboration, information sharing, and IT implementation and adaptation in order to find the level of information integration. From the dyadic perspective and with help of cross case analysis, the level of information integration regarding the whole research population is defined at medium level. It is remarkable that obtained results, in accordance with the theoretical framework, are different from the companies’ representatives’ perception of information integration.

Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka vad det är som hindrar företag i dagsläget från att använda intermodala godstransporter med järnvägen, där frågeställningar som arbetet kommer att besvara är: Överväger fördelarna de nackdelar som finns med användningen av intermodala godstransporter på järnvägen? Samt hur ser framtiden ut för intermodala godstransporter på järnväg? För att besvara syftet har vi använt oss av kvalitativa metoder i form av intervjuer, där intervjufrågorna utformades utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det teoretiska ramverket är uppbyggt med hjälp av vetenskapliga artiklar och indelat i fyra aspekter som anses vara viktiga för kunder och deras val av transportslag vid transport av gods. Det empiriska materialet är utformat efter intervjuer med intervjupersoner som arbetar med intermodala godstransporter och där dessa arbetar på olika företag. Det empiriska materialet har sedan ställts mot det teoretiska ramverket för att ta fram en analys, där materialet analyserades genom en tematisk analysmetod. Arbetet kom fram till resultatet att hållbarhet alltid varit en av järnvägens starkaste fördelar, men järnvägens nackdelar är de som påverkar kundernas val mest. Nackdelarna är tid och leveranssäkerhet, för att motverka dessa nackdelar krävs det att man gör investeringar i järnvägsinfrastrukturen. Dessa investeringar kan vara att bygga ut eller förbättra den nuvarande järnvägsinfrastrukturen i hopp om att få fler spår och ett starkare nätverk kommer att minimera nackdelarna så att transporterna kan utföras snabbare och effektivare. Framtiden för järnvägen är lovande om investeringar och projekt planeras rätt. Förbättringar kommer leda till att godstransporter på järnväg ökar, dock överväger fördelarna i dagsläget inte nackdelarna om man är ett företag som har tidskänsliga transporter. / The purpose of this work is to investigate what prevents companies from currently using intermodal rail transportation, where the research questions to be answered are: Do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of using intermodal rail transportation? What does the future hold for intermodal freight transportation by rail? To address the purpose, we have utilized qualitative methods in the form of interviews, where the interview questions were designed based on semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework is built using scientific articles and divided into four aspects considered important for customers and their choice of transport mode for the transportation of goods. The empirical material is based on interviews with interviewees working with intermodal rail freight, representing different companies. The empirical material was then compared to the theoretical framework to conduct an analysis, where the material was analyzed using thematic analysis method. The study concluded that sustainability has always been one of the strongest advantages of rail transportation, but it is the disadvantages of rail transportation that have the greatest impact on customers' choices. The disadvantages include time and delivery reliability, and to counteract these disadvantages, investments in rail infrastructure are required. These investments can involve expanding or improving the current rail infrastructure, with the hope that more tracks and a stronger network will minimize the disadvantages, allowing for faster and more efficient transportation. The future of rail transportation is promising if investments and projects are planned correctly. Improvements will lead to an increase in rail freight, but currently, if a company has time-sensitive shipments, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

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Le travail présenté dans ce mémoire contribue au domaine de l’entreprise étendue et le développement des systèmes d’informations distribués. et le développement des systèmes d’informations distribués. C’est bien évidemment un sujet d’étude important pour la communauté Logistique (chaîne logistique), mais aussi pour la communauté Génie logiciel. C’est dans cette perspective que se situent les objectifs de proposer une modélisation de la chaîne logistique globale dans un environnement de transport intermodal de porte à porte en vue de résoudre les problèmes : (i) d’interfaces entre les différents acteurs intervenants le long de la chaîne et (ii) de rupture des charges engendrés par les opérations de transfert de marchandises d’un mode de transport à l’autre. Ainsi, l’amélioration de performance de la chaine logistique dépend fortement du niveau de coopération et de coordination, et surtout du partage et de la validité des informations et des connaissances, entre ces différents acteurs de la chaîne (organisateur du transport, transitaire, fournisseur, etc.). L’applicatif se situe dans le corridor de la vallée de Seine. Le travail s’inscrit dans le projet APLOG (Amélioration et Performance de la LOgistique Globale) financé par la région Haute Normandie. / The work presented in this thesis contributes to the field of the extended enterprise and the development of distributed information systems. This is obviously an important subject of study for the logistics community (supply chain), but also for the software engineering community. It is in this context that the objectives are to provide a model of global supply chain in an intermodal environment door to door service to solve the problems: (i) interfaces between the different actors involved along the chain and (ii) trans-loading operations generated by the goods transfer operations from one mode of transport to another. Thus, improved performance of the supply chain depends heavily on the level of cooperation and coordination, and especially sharing and validity of information and knowledge between the different actors in the chain (transport organizer, forwarding, Supplier, etc.). The application is located in the corridor of the Seine valley. The work is part of the project APLOG (Performance Improvement and global logistics) financed by the Haute Normandie region.