March 02, 2023
In the Media
Dr. Angela Acocella is a research affiliate at MIT CTL and a postdoctoral researcher at Tilburg University. This article was originally published in the Mar/Apr edition of Supply Chain Management Review.
Procuring freight transportation is a well-established supply chain process, yet the pervasiveness of ghost lanes as a consequence of “coverage” procurement strategies is little understood or appreciated.
Ghost lanes are freight lanes contracted to motor carriers that are never used by the shippers that procure them. Research carried out at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) shows that contracting with carriers to move cargo that never materializes is far more prevalent than is widely assumed and exacts a surprisingly high price for both shippers and trucking companies.
We built a predictive model to identify which freight lanes are the most likely to yield very few or no loads, to estimate how much this outcome costs shippers, and to identify ways the industry can eliminate this profligate practice. Addressing the ghost lane issue may mean changing deepseated behavior patterns.
For the full article in PDF format, click here
To access the article on the SCMR page, click here