CEA groupings

Carrier equipment availability (CEA) groupings are used by the Optimizer to establish the applicable denominator to use when enforcing percentage based lane level constraints.

CEA groupings can be defined using a user-definable domain table. Each lane constraint will refer to a CEA grouping. A collection of CEA groupings can optionally be associated with a tariff service combination.

Loads/trips will be included in the denominator count for lane constraints when one of the following is applicable:

• Route information for the lane constraint and load/trip are equal.
• Another lane constraint exists referencing the same CEA grouping where the route information for that lane constraint and the load/trip are equal.
• The CEA grouping for the lane constraint has been enabled for the tariff service combination selected for the load/trip and there are no lane constraints applicable for this tariff service combination.

By default, all lane constraints will belong to the "Default" CEA grouping and all execution tariff service combinations will be enabled for the "Default" CEA grouping. There is an OptParamater that can be used to indicate that Lane Constraints with a CEA group of “Default” should be ignored if there are CEA Groups defined at the Tariff/Service level.

Carrier level and tariff service level CEA constraints do not consider CEA groupings.

Example

Assume there are five carriers that can move freight along a lane and lane level CEA constraints have been defined for three of these carriers:

Assume there are currently 10 existing loads within the applicable time horizon: carrier PPPP has been selected for 2 loads, carrier QQQQ for 5 loads and carrier RRRR for 3 loads.

Also assume that the Optimizer has proposed a potential trip that would move along the applicable lane. This trip has been tentatively assigned to the private fleet carrier YYYY.

With the configuration depicted in the previous table, a trip that would be handled by carrier YYYY would not be included in the count of loads/trips moving along the lane when evaluating whether the Minimum Loads Percentage would be violated for carriers PPPP, QQQQ and RRRR. However, a load assigned to carrier SSSS would be included because the tariff service combination for this carrier refers to the same CEA grouping. The Minimum Loads Penalty would be included in the plan cost if a new load is assigned to carrier SSSS but the penalty would not be included if a new load or trip is assigned to carrier YYYY.

Next, assume that two LTL carriers can also move freight along the same lane and that CEA lane constraints have been defined for these carriers:

Assume that in addition to the 10 existing loads mentioned above moving TL, there are 5 additional loads within the applicable time horizon: carrier UUUU using service LTL has been selected for 2 loads, carrier VVVV using service LTL for 3 loads.

If the CEA grouping is "Common" for the LTL tariff service combinations, the loads previously assigned to the LTL carriers will be included in the denominator for the TL lane constraints because these loads will qualify for the TL services.

If a separate CEA grouping is used for TL versus LTL tariff service combinations, the loads previously assigned to the LTL carriers will not be included in the denominator used when evaluating the for the CEA lane constraints for the TL services.