Competition and cooperation for intermodal container transhipment: A network optimization approach

Abstract This study presents an analysis of cross-border competition and cooperation between ports in Bangladesh and India. Nepal and Bhutan are countries without access to seaports — two landlocked countries in South Asia, depending solely on the Indian port of Kolkata for their international seaborne trade. Alternatives do exist in the Bangladeshi ports of Chittagong and Mongla but these are not exploited, in spite of trade agreements that allow access to a third country's port, and/or crossing the land of a third, intermediate, country. We formulate a mixed integer linear programming optimization model to find the optimum economic benefit of port users (serving Bhutan, Nepal and Northeas…