Modelling Transport Costs

Context and Prerequisites

Configuring Costs is the third step in setting up your Scenario, following the configuration of the Forecast and Operations sections. Detailed guides for these steps are available in our Knowledge Base.

Cost configuration is optional. You can still use many of SimPath's features, such as Asset-Distance optimisation, before fully modelling your costs. However, entering cost parameters unlocks visual exploration of your cost drivers, as well as valuable insights from cost-driven optimisation.

Configuring Transport Costs

To begin, click Add Transport Costs to navigate to the Transport Costs Configuration page.

Transport Modes

The default transport mode is Road. Other modes such as Air or Sea may be available depending on your subscription. The Default Road transport mode has unlimited capacity.

Cost Types

There are two primary cost types:

• Fixed Costs: These do not change based on weight or distance. For example, a fixed van rental price regardless of load or travel distance.
• Variable Costs: These scale with distance and shipment volume. For example, a cost per box per kilometre. These figures are typically estimated from shipment records that include weight, distance, and cost.

Most transport cost models use a combination of both. You can set either value to zero if it doesn't apply to your model.

Economies of Scale

Just like Facility Costs, you can model economies of scale using the Add Tier button — for example, lower relative costs per unit for larger shipments. In the demo, we labelled the default tier as Large and added a Medium tier with slightly higher costs and lower capacity. You can add as many tiers as needed.

Saving and Advanced Options

Click Save to complete your Transport Cost configuration.

For more detailed transport cost models, Advanced Configuration is also available. See the Advanced Transport Configuration article in our Knowledge Base.