Transportation network optimization efforts allow both shippers and customers to gain the best time/cost performance in transportation. These systems allow users to set strategy by understanding the trade-offs of supply chain designs and selecting various modes of transportation. For example, users can weigh the high cost of air transport with its time benefits, versus the less expensive rail, but slower times. These systems also allow users to asses complex multi-model strategies and complex process synchronization such as consolidation processes and intransit merge. Even if a firm outsources their transportation operations to external third-party logistics providers (3PL's), firms should run their own simulations in order to assess the performance of their service providers and understand alternative routes and solutions in case of a crisis or transportation disruption. For firms operating their own fleets, these optimization capabilities become a part of their daily operations to ensure the highest level of supply chain performance—by order, by customer, at the right service levels, and as profitably as possible. These concepts include maximizing the issue of assets, which include trucks, trailers, containers, and ship capacity, as well as the high performance flow through processing sites such as intermodel facilities, yards, and loading docks. At a tactical level, these systems can plan the order of loading of cargo and sequence of pick-ups and drop-offs to maximize performance and solve back haul problems.