The challenge of last mile container handling in international port cities

Although the last-mile connecting services between the terminals and the origins (or destinations) represent a very small portion of the global distribution network in terms of distance, they contribute significantly to the total transportation cost. Not only they are more vulnerable than the long-haul transportation counterparts, but they also are the key sources of shipment delays, road congestions, and disruptions to the international logistics network. Such a situation is even worse when the last-mile services involve cross-border issues. Using Hong Kong, the busiest port in the world, as an example, we illustrate the challenges and issues on managing the last-mile connecting activities in hub cities. We introduce several modeling perspectives. These perspectives help in formulating a last-mile handling problem in different situations which depend on the level of policy restriction that governs the cross-border activities and the level of information available for decision making. We review a number of possible models, ranging from coupling drivers and tractors, to matching resources with transportation requests in a dynamic, stochastic environment. The paper shows that managing the cross-border last-mile container transportation is a very challenging problem which has the breadth and the depth in terms of research development.