Freight consolidation through carrier collaboration: A cooperative game

Reducing inefficient truck movements, this research investigates the potential of freight consolidation through carrier collaboration. Considering the financial benefits of consolidation as well as the additional cost arising from collaboration, we introduce a cooperative game in which several carriers can collaborate by pooling transportation capacities. Although the core of this game can be empty, we provide three conditions under which core non-emptiness is preserved. Numerical experiments indicate, moreover, that core non-emptiness is also likely outside these conditions.