Multimodal Transportation: The Case of Laptop from Chongqing in China to Rotterdam in Europe

Abstract

Multimodal transportation is a key component of modern logistics systems, especially for longdistance transnational transportation. This paper explores the various alternative routes for laptop exports from Chongqing, China to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It selects seven available routes for laptop transportation from Chongqing to Rotterdam. The multimodal model was adopted to demonstrate alternative routes using various factors such as transport cost, transfer cost, transit time, transport distance, document charge, port congestion surcharge, customs charge, confidence index and so on. Among possible alternative routes, the results indicate that the route 6 was the fastest routes except for the air transport (route 7), while the route 1 was the cheapest and safest way. Nonetheless, route 1 may be not suitable for the laptop transport due to the importance of timeliness. The logisticians may able to utilize this research’s findings to make a balance between transit time and transport cost for effective multimodal transport of laptops from Chongqing to Rotterdam.