Optimal reefer slot conversion for container freight transportation

Given a fleet of container ships of varying capacity, a cost-efficient approach for improving fleet utilization and reducing the number of delayed containers is to optimize the sequence of container ships in a given string, a problem which belongs to the large ship-deployment class. A string sequence with ‘uniformly’ distributed ship capacity is more likely to accommodate a random container shipment demand. The number of one’s total ship slots acts as a gauge of the capacity of the container ships. Meanwhile, there are two types of ship slots: dry slots and reefer slots. A dry slot only accommodates a dry container, while a reefer slot can accommodate either a dry or a reefer container. The numbers of dry and reefer slots for ships in a string are different. Therefore, in this study, we propose a model that considers both dry and reefer slots and use it to elucidate the optimal ship-deployment sequence. The objective is to minimize the delay of dry and reefer containers when the demand is uncertain. Furthermore, based on the optimal sequence deduced, the study also investigates the need to convert some dry slots to reefer slots for the container ships.     

Ship scheduling and container shipment planning for liners in short-term operations

Good short-term ship scheduling and container shipment planning are very important for liner operations; however, in Taiwan, most such carriers currently utilize a trial-and-error process. In this study, we employ network flow techniques to construct a model for such activities. A solution algorithm, based on Lagrangian relaxation, a subgradient method, and a heuristic for the upper-bound solution, is developed to solve the model. To demonstrate and to test how well the model and the solution algorithm apply in the real world, we performed a case study using operating data from a major Taiwanese marine shipping company. The test results show that the model and the solution algorithm could be useful references for ship scheduling and container shipment planning.     

Multi-agent system with iterative auction mechanism for master bay plan problem in marine logistics

The support of containerization to trade development demands an efficient solution method for the container loading problem in order to reduce shipment and handling time. Hence, the stowage planning of containers is critical to provide speedy delivery of resources from the area of supply to the area of demand. Moreover, information on container terminal activities, structure of ship, and characteristics of containers is distributed among stowage planners. This information imposes constraints, and so the master bay plan problem (MBPP) becomes NP-hard. Therefore, a multi-agent systems (MAS) methodology is designed to effectively communicate the information and solve the MBPP sustainably. In the designed MAS methodology, an information exchange system (IES) is created for stowage planners to bid for ship slots in each experimental iterative combinatorial auction (ICA) market. The winner in the ICA experiments is provided with the ship slots, and the entire bay plan is prepared. Further, the ship-turnaround time is validated using the data obtained from the benchmark problem.     

Editorial: an analysis of failure

This article deals with a short-term Liner Ship Fleet Planning (LSFP) problem with cargo shipment demand uncertainty for a single liner container shipping company. The cargo shipment demand uncertainty enables us to propose a chance constraint for each liner service route, which guarantees that the liner service route can satisfy the customers’ demand at least with a predetermined probability. Assuming that cargo shipment demand between any two ports on each liner service route is normally distributed, this article develops an integer linear programming model with chance constraints for the short-term LSFP problem. The proposed integer linear programming model can be efficiently solved by any optimization solver such as CPLEX. Finally, a numerical example is carried out to assess the model and analyze impact of the chance constraints and cargo shipment demand.     

新建船队的船队优化模型建立和比较

船队规划问题通常是通过建立连续变量线性规划模型或混合整数线性规划模型来解决,但往往会得到要求一艘船营运于多条航线的结果。而企业出于安全因素和便于管理的角度考虑,希望船队单船个体的航线能固定,这就需要采用整数规划模型来解决此类问题。针对新建船队的整体配置规划问题,在建立连续变量线性规划模型和混合整数线性规划模型的基础上,探索并建立线性整数规划模型和非线性整数规划模型并进行优化。通过对计算实例的分析比较,论述了4种优化数学模型的特点与适用范围。     

Designing optimal routes in a liner shipping problem

A real liner shipping problem of deciding optimal weekly routes for a given fleet of ships is considered and a solution method for solving the problem is proposed. First, all feasible routes for each ship are generated together with the cost and the duration for each route. The routes are given as input to an integer programming (IP) problem. By solving the IP problem, routes for each ship are selected such that total transportation costs are minimized and the demand at each port is satisfied. The total duration for the routes that are selected for a given ship must not exceed one week.

The real liner shipping problem is solved together with four randomly generated test problems. The computational results show that proposed solution method is suitable for designing optimal routes in several liner shipping problems.     

Designing optimal routes in a liner shipping problem

A real liner shipping problem of deciding optimal weekly routes for a given fleet of ships is considered and a solution method for solving the problem is proposed. First, all feasible routes for each ship are generated together with the cost and the duration for each route. The routes are given as input to an integer programming (IP) problem. By solving the IP problem, routes for each ship are selected such that total transportation costs are minimized and the demand at each port is satisfied. The total duration for the routes that are selected for a given ship must not exceed one week.

The real liner shipping problem is solved together with four randomly generated test problems. The computational results show that proposed solution method is suitable for designing optimal routes in several liner shipping problems.     

Estimation of CO2 reduction for Japanese domestic container transportation based on mathematical models

This research discusses domestic feeder container transportation connected with international trades in Japan. Optimal round trip courses of container ship fleet from the perspective of CO₂ emission reduction are calculated and analyzed to obtain basic knowledge about CO₂ emission reduction in the container feeder transportation system. Specifically, based on the weekly origin–destination (OD) data at a hub port (Kobe) and other related transportation data, the ship routes are designed by employing a mathematical modeling approach. First, a mixed integer programming model is formulated and solved by using an optimization software that employs branch and bound algorithm. The objective function of the model is to minimize the CO₂ emission subject to necessary (and partially simplified) constraints. The model is then tested on various types of ships with different speed and capacity. Moreover, it is also tested on various waiting times at hub port to investigate the effect in CO₂ emission of the designated fleet. Both the assessment method of container feeder transportation and the transportation’s basic insights in view of CO₂ emission are shown through the analysis.     

A dynamic model and algorithm for fleet planning

By analysing the merits and demerits of the existing linear model for fleet planning, this paper presents an algorithm which combines the linear programming technique with that of dynamic programming to improve the solution to linear model for fleet planning. This new approach has not only the merits that the linear model for fleet planning has, but also the merit of saving computing time. The numbers of ships newly added into the fleet every year are always integers in the final optimal solution. The last feature of the solution directly meets the requirements of practical application. Both the mathematical model of the dynamic fleet planning and its algorithm are put forward in this paper. A calculating example is also given.     

An econometric analysis for container shipping market

This article presents an econometric analysis for the fluctuation of the container freight rate due to the interactions between the demand for container transportation services and the container fleet capacity. The demand is derived from international trade and is assumed to be exogenous, while the fleet capacity increases with new orders made two years before, proportional to the industrial profit. Assuming the market clears each year, the shipping freight rate will change with the relative magnitude of shifts in the demand and fleet capacity.

This model is estimated using the world container shipping market statistics from 1980 to 2008, applying the three-stage least square method. The estimated parameters of the model have high statistical significance, and the overall explanatory power of the model is above 90%. The short-term in-sample prediction of the model can largely replicate the container shipping market fluctuation in terms of the fleet size dynamics and the freight rate fluctuation in the past 20 years. The prediction of the future market trend reveals that the container freight rate should continue to decrease in the coming three years if the demand for container transportation services grows at less than 8%.     

A continuous berth template design model with multiple wharfs

ABSTRACT

Berth planning plays an important role in improving the efficiency of a container terminal. This study focuses on the berth template problem (BTP), which determines the berthing windows of the calling ships within a planning horizon (e.g. a week) in a cyclical way. As a mid-term tactical decision problem, BTP provides the decision support for a terminal operator to negotiate the contracts with the shipping lines. This study develops an integer programming (IP) model aiming to minimize the total deviation, given the ship-dependent target times preferred by the shipping lines. To validate the model and illustrate the benefits of its use, we perform a numerical experiment based on operational data of a specific container terminal in Southeast Asia. Two IP-based heuristic methods are developed to take into account the decision framework of terminal operators in reaction to demand increases. The experiment results indicate that the model and the solution approaches can enhance the resource utilization and operational efficiency of container terminals.     

Strategic fleet size planning for maritime refrigerated containers

In the present economic climate, it is often the case that profits can only be improved, or for that matter maintained, by improving efficiency and cutting costs. This is particularly notorious in the shipping business, where it has been seen that the competition is getting tougher among carriers, thus alliances and partnerships are resulting for cost effective services in recent years. In this scenario, effective planning methods are important not only for strategic but also operating tasks, covering their entire transportation systems. Container fleet size planning is an important part of the strategy of any shipping line. This paper addresses the problem of fleet size planning for refrigerated containers, to achieve cost-effective services in a competitive maritime shipping market. An analytical model is first discussed to determine the optimal size of an own dry container fleet. Then, this is extended for an own refrigerated container fleet, which is the case when an extremely unbalanced trade represents one of the major investment decisions to be taken by liner operators. Next, a simulation model is developed for fleet sizing in a more practical situation and, by using this, various scenarios are analysed to determine the most convenient composition of refrigerated fleet between own and leased containers for the transpacific cargo trade.     

川江及三峡库区运输船舶标准船型主尺度系列制定

本文阐述了川江及三峡库区运输船舶标准船型主尺度系列制定的原则和方法,分别对川江及三峡库区干散货船、化学品船、油船、驳船(队)、集装箱船、汽车滚装船和客船的主尺度系列作了说明。     

A slot reallocation model for containership schedule adjustment

Ship slot capacity is the main sale resource of container shipping lines. However, shipping lines often encounter situations, such as serious ship delays, that require adjustments of shipping schedules, causing the original delivery plans of some consignments to be altered. This study proposes an integer programming model for slot reallocation planning, based on a given adjusted schedule. Decisions regarding empty container repositioning are also examined. This model aims to maximise a company’s benefits from deliveries of consignments and movements of empty containers. Available slots are subject to port rotation changes, allowable port handlings and ship capacity. A case study of a deep ocean loop demonstrates optimal slot reallocation, and empty container repositioning is used for illustrative purposes. The reallocation characteristics due to benefit items and the model’s applicability to large-scale examples are discussed.     

Fleet deployment optimization for liner shipping Part 2. Implementation and results

We use linear programming (LP) for solving the problem of the optimal deployment of an existing fleet of multipurpose or fully containerized ships, among a given set of routes, including information for lay-up time, if any, and type and number of extra ships to charter, based on a detailed and realistic model for the calculation of the operating costs of all the ship types in every route and on a suitable LP formulation developed in earlier work of the authors. The optimization model is also applicable to the problem of finding the best fleet compostion and deployment, in a given set of trade routes, which may be the case when a shipping company is considering new or modified services, or a renewal of the existing fleet. In addition, two promising mixed linear-integer programming formulations are suggested.     

Tactical planning models for managing container flow and ship deployment

This paper addresses two practical problems from a liner shipping company, i.e. the container flow management problem and the ship deployment problem, at the tactical planning level. A sequential model and a joint optimisation model are formulated to solve the problems. Our results show that the company should implement the joint optimisation model at the tactical planning level to improve the shipping capacity utilisation rather than the sequential model used in the current practice. Repositioning empty containers also need to be considered jointly with the nonempty container flow at the tactical planning level. Some important managerial insights into the operational and business processes are gained.     

我国进口铁矿石海运网络分析

本文在预测了本世纪本我国铁矿石进口的基础上构筑了其海运网络。运用网络流模糊规划方法按最大最小费用流问题对矿石货流进行了合理安排。     

Model and algorithm for container ship stowage planning based on bin-packing problem

In a general case, container ship serves many different ports on each voyage. A stowage planning for container ship made at one port must take account of the influence on subsequent ports. So the complexity of stowage planning problem increases due to its multi-ports nature. This problem is NP-hard problem. In order to reduce the computational complexity, the problem is decomposed into two sub-problems in this paper. First, container ship stowage problem （CSSP） is regarded as “packing problem”, ship-bays on the board of vessel are regarded as bins, the number of slots at each bay are taken as capacities of bins, and containers with different characteristics （homogeneous containers group） are treated as items packed. At this stage, there are two objective functions, one is to minimize the number of bays packed by containers and the other is to minimize the number of overstows. Secondly, containers assigned to each bays at first stage are allocate to special slot, the objective functions are to minimize the metacentric height, heel and overstows. The taboo search heuristics algorithm are used to solve the subproblem. The main focus of this paper is on the first subproblem. A case certifies the feasibility of the model and algorithm.     

改进Sobol’方法在船型优化模型中的应用

针对船型优化中采用更多的优化变量有可能带来"维度灾难"的问题,通过灵敏度分析确定不重要的变量并降维来缓解该问题。介绍以往提出的改进Sobol’方法,利用该方法对某集装箱船兴波阻力优化模型进行灵敏度分析并降维。为减少分析的计算量,对该船型优化模型构建Kriging模型。对优化模型降维前后的优化过程、最优解及其波形和型线进行对比。结果表明:降维后优化模型收敛更快,最优解兴波阻力系数仅增大0.15%,采用改进Sobol’方法进行降维,能在保证最优解质量的同时,提高优化效率。     

变尺寸装箱问题的迭代/贪婪动态规划算法

针对船舶建造中管材切割规划这一类特殊的变尺寸装箱问题,提出了一种迭代贪婪/动态规划算法(IGDP)并对其进行求解.首先,提出了求解子集和问题的贪婪操作与动态规划的组合解法.然后,基于贪婪操作与动态规划的组合解法实现对整个问题的构造启发式求解,并且通过迭代的拆箱/再分配操作提高了算法的局部搜索能力.最后,通过8个算例的仿...