Cooperative intermodal transportation planning in a Physical Internet network: The role of sustainability and coalition costs

Achieving sustainable freight transport requires governance frameworks that balance economic efficiency, environmental protection, and social welfare. Traditional policy instruments, focused on technology, infrastructure, and modal shift incentives, are insufficient to meet the EU Green Deal and Fit-for-55 goals. New organizational paradigms and cooperative mechanisms are needed to complement these measures and support a more sustainable and inclusive freight system. This paper examines horizontal cooperation among shippers within a Physical Internet framework, assessing its potential to contribute to sustainability-oriented freight policies. Computational experiments on realistic instances show that cooperation substantially improves performance: profits rise by more than 50%, late deliveries fall by up to 80%, and road vehicle-kilometers decrease by around 10%, contributing to a reduction in environmental impacts associated with road freight transport. However, cooperation alone does not automatically trigger a modal shift toward rail or sea transport, as such changes depend on service availability and volume consolidation. Still, the overall reduction in road distance and adoption of relay-based operations strengthen both the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. From a policy perspective, these findings demonstrate that data-driven cooperation can complement existing decarbonization and modal-shift policies. Promoting Physical-Internet-enabled collaboration among shippers can improve resource efficiency, reduce external costs, and enhance working conditions. Policies supporting interoperability standards, trusted data-sharing platforms, and cooperative frameworks could accelerate progress toward the EU’s climate and social sustainability objectives, while increasing the resilience and competitiveness of the European freight system.