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Computers Operations Research 35 (2008) 3439–3451 /locate/cor The design of real-time logistics information system for trucking industry Shih-Che Loa,?, Randolph W. Hallb aDepartment of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Keelung Rd., Sec. 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC bEpstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Avenue, GER 240, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0193, USA Available online 8 February 2007 Abstract A critical link in the overnight Express Package services is the on-time arrival of trucks at local airport terminals. Truck delays can delay the package sorting process, which can in turn delay aircraft departures from the local terminal, as well as aircraft departures from hub terminals that depend on timely aircraft arrivals. In this paper, the design of a real-time logistics information system (RLIS) for trucking industry was addressed, considering the effects of traffic congestion during rush hour. Two types of forecasting methods, time series models and nonlinear fuzzy reasoning, were created and embedded into the RLIS. The results from practical web services reveal a substantial improvement of the truck scheduling performance and help decision makers determine schedule coordination between ground transportation and aircraft departures at airport cargo terminals.  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Logistics information system; Fuzzy theory; Truck scheduling; Travel time forecasting; Loop detectors 1. Introduction Highways are increasingly congested in metropolitan areas, especially in major cities that rely on highway transporta- tion. Traffic congestion has grown due to sharply increased vehicle travel and very slow growth of roadway capacity in recent years. Rush periods in major cities have doubled in less than 20 years, rising from nearly three hours (morning and evening combined) in 1982 to almost six hours in 1999 [1]. Even holid