Advanced methods for intelligent interurban freight transportation and logistics

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ClearDestination is an innovative and successful Montreal-based Canadian SME providing end-to-end delivery management solutions. The company decided to expand its activities to the interurban market through a technology-based business and operational model, which expands the emerging concepts of integration and sharing aiming for benefits for all concerned, and requires advanced data-based decision-support methods. Building the science and prototypes of these methods is the goal of this project, which brings together specialists in operations research and analytics, transportation and logistics science, and information technology. We focus on the design, planning and management of the system and the associated methodological challenges. We will pursue three related objectives: 1) Develop the required cutting-edge models, methods, prototypes; 2) Disseminate scientific results and embed them into advanced decision-support platform for transfer to the partner; 3) Train HQP for academia and practice. The result is, to the best of our knowledge, one of the most comprehensive collaborative research projects applied to transportation planning in Canada and elsewhere; it is structured into three strongly interconnected facets: Optimized System Operation; Business Models & Smart Planning, and Data-driven Optimization & Decision Making. The novel science and technologies that will be developed will enable the company to gain an important competitive advantage, offering new solutions for improved management of freight transportation, and will drive its growth in the coming years. The project will provide the needed data-driven operational and tactical optimization, forecasting, revenue management, traceability and machine-learning capabilities. The project will also make significant contributions to the training of highly-qualified personnel and to scientific knowledge and transportation-science applications.