DETERMINING OPTIMAL ROUTES AND RATES FOR CARGO TRANSPORTATION

摘要

Provided are computer systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable medium configured for determining optimal routes and rates for cargos transportation between an origin location and a destination location, which determination takes into consideration available truck services from the origin to an origin rail ramp, rail services from the origin rail ramp to a destination rail ramp, and truck services from the destination rail ramp to the destination, along with location of empty containers as well as rates and incentives provided by each vendor.

主权项

1. A system comprising a processor, a memory and program code which, when executed by the processor, configures the system to:
(a) receive a search query comprising an origin, a destination, a description of goods to be transported from the origin to the destination, and a desired time for the transportation; (b) using the search query, search a database comprising information regarding (i) one or more origin vendors providing truck service from the origin to a first rail ramp, (ii) one or more rail vendors providing rail service from the first rail ramp to a second rail ramp, (iii) one or more destination vendors providing truck service from the second rail ramp to the destination, and (iv) one or more container providers providing empty containers at a first location acceptable for at least one of the origin vendors to pick up and accepting empty containers at a second location acceptable for at least one of the destination vendors to drop off, wherein:
the containers are suitable for the goods, andeach of the origin vendors, the rail vendors, the destination vendors and the container providers is available to provide service or container during the desired time and has a quoted price for such service or container; (c) identify one or more itineraries each comprising a container provider, an origin vendor, a rail vendor and a destination vendor that collectively are able to transport the goods from the origin to the destination; and (d) calculate a total quoted price for each of the itineraries taking the quoted prices from each of the container provider, the origin vendor, the rail vendor and the destination vendor as input.