Currently, the trade volume between China and the European Union is experiencing rapid growth. However, there are many bottlenecks in the operation of the China Railway Express, such as imbalance in inbound and outbound transported containers in the Sino–European direction and a low profit margin. More than fifty-three rail routes in China provide rail transportation to European cities and have small traffic volumes. However, such a dramatic situation affects transportation costs, which are three times higher compared with maritime transportation, causing uncertainty related to the demand of Chinese customers. This study analyzes the shortcomings of previous research studies related to multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) models applied in the field of logistics and transportation. The study proposes a novel approach to determine the optimal locations of the CR Express international logistics centers. The proposed approach involves the application of a MCDM model using the DEMATEL-MAIRCA method. This technique finds the closest solution to the ideal one by identifying the value of the best alternative in line with the observed criterion, and by measuring the distances of other alternatives according to the observed criterion of the ideal value. Finally, we show the similarity of the proposed methodology to other MCMD methods, which is one of the key topics of the Symmetry Journal, to prove the validity of the applied DEMATEL-MAIRCA method. Preliminary results show that in view of increased container turnover between China and the European Union, the determination of optimal locations for CR Express international logistics centers should be carried out dynamically.

The continuous increase of trade between China and Europe brought congestion problems at major Chinese seaports. An effective way to solve this issue is to set up intermodal terminals often called dry ports. However, the dynamics of various influenced factors on dry port’s implementation calls for the adaptive and flexible planning of the terminal. This paper analyzes the shortcomings of previous research related to the dry port’s implementation from the perspective of the applied numerous parameters concerning evaluating its operational efficiency and sustainability. The operational efficiency and sustainability of a dry port are evaluated by the developed system of the main parameters. This system gives the understanding of how these parameters are interrelated between each other and fills the gap in studies of inverse interrelations between main parameters of a dry port. To fully understand the sustainability of the main parameters of a dry port, this paper puts forward the simulation models description of the developed system. The developed model is a practical tool to evaluate the reliability of hypotheses about the functional interrelations between the main parameters of the dry port, as well as to evaluate the sustainability of the system. Finally, in order to develop functional interrelations between main parameters, the data from several Chinese dry ports has been collected. Finally, the developed multi-agent system dynamics model has been validated in the case study of Yiwu dry port located in Zhejiang, China.