A Linear Route-Planning Model for Green Intermodal Transportation Considering Carbon Tax Policy, Cargo Time Sensitivity and Integrity

This paper addresses a green intermodal route-planning problem considering delivery time sensitivity and cargo integrity, in which a fuzzy time window, damage costs and the carbon tax policy are comprehensively integrated. A linear route-planning model with an easily attainable global optimum solution is established to address the proposed problem, with the optimization objective of minimizing the total cost, comprising transportation-, damage- and carbon tax-related costs. Numerical experiments are conducted to verify the feasibility of problem optimization and reveal managerial insights. The feasibility verification demonstrates that the fuzzy time window enables flexible and fine-grained intermodal route design based on delivery time sensitivity, and the incorporation of damage costs has the triple benefit of reducing cargo damage, improving economic benefits and ensuring low-carbon transportation. It also demonstrates the conditional effectiveness of the carbon tax policy in reducing the carbon emissions associated with intermodal transportation. An ablation experiment further indicates that damage costs are the dominant driver of carbon emission reductions when transporting high-value cargo, with the carbon tax policy failing to achieve additional carbon emission reductions in this case when damage costs are included in the objective function. These findings provide quantitative guidance for customers, transportation service providers, and policy regulators for balancing the costs, service quality and environmental sustainability of intermodal transportation.