Freight Transportation Resilience Enabled by Physical Internet

Résumé En

This paper investigates the resilience of Physical Internet (PI) enabled freight transportation system confronted to random disruptions. As a metaphor of the digital internet, the concept of PI aims to integrate independent logistics networks into a global, open, interconnected system. Prior research shows that the new organization can reduce transportation cost through flow consolidation. Continuing along these lines, this paper examines how PI deal with disruption problems at hubs as well as the resilience of such an open logistics system. To attain this, a multi-agent based simulation model is developed. Disruptions at hubs are considered and formulated by a two-state Markov process, with a probability of breakdown αi and a probability of repair βi. Faced with the disruptions, two PI-based transportation planning strategies are proposed and investigated: risk avoidance and risk-taking. Results of experimentation on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) chains in France suggest that PI can provide better performance on resilience in freight transportation. This paper also indicates a novel approach to build a resilient distribution system.