Railroad blocking problem (RBP) is one of the problems that need an important decision in freight railroads. The objective of solving this problem is to minimize the costs of delivering all commodities by deciding which inter-terminal blocks to build and by specifying the assignment of commodities to these blocks, while observing limits on the number and cumulative volume of the blocks assemble...

This paper presents a novel multi-level hierarchical approach which models carrier interactions in international maritime freight transportation networks. Ocean carriers, land carriers and port terminal operators are considered. Port terminal operators, providing transportation services within a port complex, are regarded as a special type of the carrier, based on their behavior. The carriers m...