Transportation planning

In transport planning and optimization, PTV has core competencies for decades, both with products for route planning and in research and development. Route planning problems can be very complicated, and highly effective algorithms are needed to solve them. With these algorithms, PTV can provide the right solutions in short computing time for various applications for larger fleets and order quantities. In research, possible future use cases are outlined and approaches developed with practical relevance are implemented and tested.

Intermodal transport or combined transport means the linking of different modes of transport (e.g. truck, rail and ship) within a transport chain. The aim is to integrate climate-friendly modes of transport, such as rail freight transport, into transport chains through sensible combinations and to offer an alternative to pure road freight transport. With the aim of shifting transports to cost-effective and green modals, such as rail or inland waterways, PTV is looking at the following topics:

  •     Intercontinental container transport (20" and 40" containers)
  •     Hinterland transport (20" and 40" containers)
  •     Continental transport (45" containers, semi-trailers and ferries)

"What is combined transport?" is described in this video: https://youtu.be/VIIKq65d_bA

PTV has professional and technical expertise in this topic, based on many years of experience from consulting and IT projects in the field of intermodal transport.

Our product portfolio supports you on this and many other topics.

Selected projects 

In the national research project iHub completed in 2020, route planning solutions for mixed fleets in carrier companies were developed and tested. The project focused on the practical use of electric trucks in a conventional fleet in local traffic.

In the EU project Clusters 2.0, algorithms for special aspects of network planning were developed. In various EU projects, the route planning solution PTV Route Optimizer was further developed for worldwide intermodal transport planning. Transport chains can be routed and planned over long distances with different transport modes (sea, rail, road, etc.) by using PTVs software.

Electric truck

The EU-funded project Transforming Transport represents a strong consortium of 48 leading transport, logistics and information technology stakeholders in Europe. The Horizon 2020 Big Data Value Lighthouse project wants to find a more efficient and more sustainable transport paradigm. The goal is to provide concrete, measurable and verifiable evidence of the value of data, which can be achieved in mobility and logistics by using large amounts of data. This involves huge amounts of information that can be analyzed using powerful software to uncover trends, patterns and correlations. For this purpose, 13 pilot projects in 7 pilot areas will be implemented, in which large amounts of data and their benefits will be demonstrated.

Further projects are: ProveIT, Code24

PTV Transport Consult GmbH provides comprehensive consulting services in transport logistics.

Railways

The research contents in the field of intermodal transport are manifold. Besides algorithmic development, the focus is on data supply via central platforms and the application in/and between logistic nodes and associated communities. These topics are currently being researched and implemented in the EU project FENIX. The project consortium develops the first European federal architecture for data exchange, which serves the European logistics community of freight forwarders, logistics service providers, mobility infrastructure providers, cities and public authorities to ensure interoperability between all individual existing and future platforms.

Further projects are: MODULUSHCA, BESTFACT.

To top