Work

Cargo-Specific Multimodal Freight Transport Performance Assessment Using a Minimum-Cost Flow Framework in Laos

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Dynamic freight transportation systems are critical for improving logistics performance in developing economies where multimodal integration remains limited. Despite Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR)’s substantial investments to transition from a landlocked to a land-linked hub, quantitative assessments capturing heterogeneous cargo behavior across its multimodal networks are scarce. This study develops a cargo-specific, multi-source, multi-sink minimum-cost flow (MCF) framework to evaluate freight transport performance in Lao PDR. The framework integrates road, railway, inland waterway, and air transport into a unified directed network, capturing heterogeneous behaviors across six cargo categories. Testing under three demand scenarios (Q500, Q1000, and Q2000 tons/day) across both export and import systems, the results from 99 feasible solutions indicate that railway transport consistently dominates long-distance corridors within the assumptions of the proposed framework, reflecting its structural cost advantages. Conversely, road transport primarily serves first- and last-mile connectivity, while inland waterways and air transport serve as supplementary modes. Ultimately, these findings provide scenario-based insights to support policy decision-making for cross-border infrastructure investments, regional dry port integration, and synchronized rail-road connectivity across the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

Source: Future Transportation

DOI: 10.3390/futuretransp6040162

Authors: Souksamai Thoumboulom, Fumitaka Kurauchi, Toshiyuki Nakamura

Institution: Gifu University

Language: English

Topic: transportation and logistics systems

Subfield: Transportation

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,207