ELSEVIER European Journal of Operational Research 97 (1997) 409-438 Invited Review EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH Planning models for freight transportation Teodor Gabriel Crainic a,b, Gilbert Laporte b,c,, a D~partement des sciences administratives, UniversiM du Quebec d Montreal, Canada b Centre de recherche sur les transports, UniversiM de Montreal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montrdal, Canada H3C 3J7 c Service de l'enseignement des m#thodes quantitatives de gestion. F.cole des Hautes F.tudes Commerciales, Montrdal, Canada Received 1 September 1996 Abstract The objective of this paper is to identify some of the main issues in freight transportation planning and operations, and to present appropriate Operations Research models and methods, as well as computer-based planning tools. The presentation is organized according to the three classical decision-making levels: strategic, tactic, operational. For each case, the problem and main issues are described, followed by a brief literature review and significant methodological and instrumental developments. We conclude with a few development perspectives. (~) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. Keywords: Freight transportation; Operations research; Planning; Operations; Models; Methods; Computer-based tools 1. Introduction Transportation is an important domain of human ac- tivity. It supports and makes possible most other social and economic activities and exchanges. Freight trans- portation, in particular, is one of today's most impor- tant activities, not only as measured by the yardstick of its own share of a nation's gross national product (GNP), but also by the increasing influence that the transportation and distribution of goods have on the performance of virtually all other economic sectors. A few figures illustrate these assertions (Cordeau and Laporte, 1996). It has been estimated (Taft, 1978 ) that transportation accounts for approximately 10% of the United States GNP and current figures could very well be significantly larger. In the United King- dom, for example, transportation represents some 15% of national expenditures (Button, 1993). These fig- * Corresponding author. ures are similar to those observed for Canada (some 16%; Zalatan, 1993) and France (around 9%; Quinet, 1990). Furthermore, transportation represents a sig- nificant part of the cost of a product. In Canada, for example, this part may reach 13% for the primary industrial sector and 11% for the transformation and production industry (Owoc and Sargious, 1992). Transportation is also a complex domain, with sev- eral players and levels of decision, where investments are capital-intensive and usually require long imple- mentation delays. Furthermore, freight transportation has to adapt to rapidly changing political, social and economic conditions and trends. It is thus a domain where accurate and efficient methods and tools are re- quired to assist and enhance the analysis of planning and decision-making processes. The objective of this article is to identify some of the main issues in freight transportation planning and operations and to present appropriate Operations Re- search models, methods, and computer-based planning 0377-2217/97/$17.00 (~) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII S0377-221 7(96) 00298-6