THE OCCURRENCE OF STATISTICAL ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION

This study empirically examines the extent to which statistical economies of scale are available to service-oriented companies--specifically, intermodal railroad-truck transportation firms. In the next section of this article the links between inventory and capacity are discussed in order to show that statistical economies can possible arise in capacity consolidations. Then, using computer simulations, intermodal terminal consolidations are analyzed to determine whether and to what degree statistical economies actually arise in a particular non-inventory situation. The results suggest that statistical economies of scale do indeed occur when intermodal terminals are consolidated.