A Bayesian Approach to Operational Decisions in Transportation Businesses

The transportation business sector, along with many others, has not, to a large extent, evaluated the possibility of gaining advantages through the use of more elaborated decision tools for operational decision making. This article presents a case study where an interval based decision tool was used for transportation business applications. The investigation was made in collaboration with a well-established shipping company as well as a well-established haulage contractor. The tool used in this study utilizes a generalization of the principle of maximizing the expected utility, and is particularly suitable when a decision maker does not possess precise information of future scenarios and expected outcomes.