Mode selection of tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport for ro-ro shipping under land-sea combined transportation

ABSTRACT

Combining ro-ro shipping and tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport under land-sea combined transportation can reduce operating costs and improve the safety of maritime transport. In addition, selection of the tractor-and-semitrailer swap mode (i.e., the ship-swap mode and port-swap mode) is a critical factor that affects the efficiency and cost of ro-ro ship loading/unloading. Considering inland pickup/delivery and ship loading/unloading, this paper develops a model that determines the mode of tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport with the objective of minimizing the total cost. This study also considers constraints such as empty semitrailer exchange and multiple time windows associated with customer receiving/delivery locations and the ro-ro ship. A hybrid simulated annealing (SA) is applied to solve the problem. By analysing numerical examples, the results show that the port-swap mode is more suitable than the ship-swap mode when the number of tasks is large because the port-swap mode can perform more tasks with fewer tractors than the ship-swap mode and because the port-swap mode can service receiving/delivery locations and finish ship loading/unloading more punctually than the ship-swap mode. Thus, this research provides a useful reference for road transport carriers and port firms to select the mode of tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport for ro-ro shipping.     

Cost analysis of bulk cargo containerization

ABSTRACT

Bulk cargo containerization (BCC) involves changes in the transportation mode of container shipping for cargo that uses bulk carriers without packing. This topic has recently attracted considerable attention as an alternative transportation method for container cargo. BCC is advantageous because it can address imbalances in the amount of cargo conveyed between the main and back hauls, thereby improving efficiency. A previous survey among companies involved in cargo shipping revealed that in addition to ocean freight, vanning and devanning, and customs clearance costs, consignees’ decisions were the key factor in selecting transport modes. The present study aims to clarify the cost competitiveness of container shipping and identify cost reductions that may increase the use of BCC. To quantitatively check the results of the survey employed in this study, we constructed a model based on consignees’ and container shipping companies’ costs to determine the choice of transport mode for back-haul trade, then examined the incentives for consignees and shipping companies. We found that BCC can be realized by cost reduction on the part of the consignee and profit improvement on the part of the container shipping company for some routes and goods. Although reducing the freight rate would effectively promote BCC, reducing other costs would not have the same effect.     

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.     

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.     

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%.     

大陆与台湾通航的客船船型初步分析

分析论证适用于大陆和台湾通航的客船船型。首先预测未来几年台湾与大陆之间往来的客流量及其流向 ,提出拟开辟台—闽间的海峡航线和基隆—上海航线。针对台闽间的海峡航线 ,在列举台湾海峡历年风浪情况的基础上 ,在作技术性能和经济效益综合评估后 ,建议采用 6种复合型高速船型。接着就 6种船型作营运经济估算及其排序 ,作变客位、车位的比较 ,变航速的比较 ,以及与常规客船船型的比较。结论是 :从技术和经济性角度考虑 ,双体气垫船和双体穿浪船较好 ;从客流量和货载量考虑 ,高速客船和常规客船按 5 0 0客位、4 5 - 10 0辆车位设计已能满足要求。从航速考虑 ,宜采用 4 0kn的客船。最后还就适用于基隆—上海航线的船型作简略探讨 ,提出宜采用集装箱—客船和客—滚装船     

Fleet deployment in liner shipping: a case study

The fleet deployment problem is an important planning problem in liner shipping. It deals with optimally assigning voyages to available vessels in the fleet and determining vessel routes and schedules in a way that minimizes costs or maximizes profit. This paper presents a new model for a fleet deployment problem in liner shipping, and we also propose a multi-start local search heuristic to solve the problem. The heuristic has been embedded in a prototype decision support system (DSS) that has been implemented and tested at Höegh Autoliners, a major global provider of ro-ro (roll-on roll-off) vehicle transportation services. The heuristic was able to produce high-quality solutions within a few minutes to a real planning problem with more than 55 vessels and 150 voyages over a planning horizon of 4–6 months. Tests indicated that the solutions suggested by the DSS gave between 2 and 10% improvements compared with solutions from manual planning. What is almost equally important is that using the DSS can ease the planning process.     

Assessment criteria for the sustainable competitive advantage of the national merchant fleet from a resource-based view

To determine the competitive advantage of the national merchant fleet, based on the resource-based view, we collect competitive advantage assessment factors from literature, and use the analytic hierarchy process methodology to compare the importance of assessment dimensions and variables. The article's conclusions include a recommendation that the government review the current allocation of resources and implement measures to reinforce the national merchant fleet. This study's findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Criteria dimensions are ranked in the order of competitive strength, organizational capability, tangible assets, and intangible assets. (2) Criteria variables can be ranked in the order of freight revenue, cargo loading ratio, accuracy of shipping schedule, dead weight tonnage, number of vessels, standard of customer service, reputation of shipping company, cargo transportation volume, gross tonnage, sailing frequency, shipping knowledge, fleet specialization, number of crewmen, and fleet technological level. (3) The government should review existing maritime regulations and measures in order to formulate specific and transparent policies, and seek to adopt optimal alternatives from other countries concerning such issues as tonnage tax, bilateral income tax reduction or exemption agreements, second-registration mechanisms and shipbuilding basis, etc.     

The comparison of general cargo ship economic performance by simulation

Cargo ship designs offered by shipbuilders differ in characteristics such as deadweight, speed, fuel consumption and cargo equipment. The best vessel for high freight markets and high fuel prices may not be the best for low freight markets and low fuel prices. A model has been developed to compare by simulation a number of multi-purpose general cargo vessels suitable for the trade of a Turkish shipowner. The model simulates the operation of each vessel under a variety of operating scenarios, e.g. fuel prices and freight profiles over the ships' lives, and estimates the distribution of resulting net present values. The techno-economic simulation model incorporates variables including ship size, speed, first cost, fuel consumption, load factor and port days.

Results are presented for six standard vessels of around 20 000 dwt operating over a long and a short route. Although the ranking of the six varies with assumptions, one design is shown to be superior under most operating conditions.     

长江航运新船型开发与设计

总结长江干线干散货船、集装箱船、油船、化学品船、汽车滚装船、川江载重汽车滚装船、江海直达运输船在系列化、专业化、标准化、大型化方向已有的技术成果,展望长江航运对船型及相应技术的需求,分析发展趋势。     

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.     

The impacts of strait and canal blockages on the transportation costs of the Chinese fleet in the shipping network

ABSTRACT

Straits and canals have always served as key nodes in shipping networks. The blockage of a strait or canal will lead to ship deviations and increased transportation costs. To measure this impact on the Chinese fleet, our study develops a mathematical model that is based on a programming formulation. Each strait or canal is assumed to be blocked in turn, and the increased transportation costs for the Chinese fleet in different scenarios are calculated and compared using the proposed programming formulation in order to measure the impact of the blocked strait or canal on the Chinese fleet. Larger increases in transportation costs have greater impacts on the fleet. The results show that a blockage of the Strait of Hormuz would have the greatest impact of all straits and canals; it would cause the Chinese fleet to lose a portion of its import and export market, and such a blockage cannot be addressed through ship deviations. Based upon increased transportation costs, the four straits or canals that would have the greatest impact if blocked are the Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal, the Sunda Strait and the English Channel.     

单体小水线面水翼复合型高速船应用前景探讨

该文简要介绍了单体小水线面水翼复合型高速船（HYSWAS）国内外研究概况,HYSWAS与其它高性能船比较具有航速高、耐波性好、可大型化的优点。通过海峡客运船队的论证和东亚超高速货运航线经济性分析,提出了HYSWAS用作高速客渡船和小型、高速集装箱船,具有良好的应用前景。     

国际干散货运输市场回顾与展望

2003年是国际干散货运输市场迄今为止表现最为强劲的一年。以中国进口铁矿石和日本进口煤炭为核心的需求空前高涨,谷物和小宗散货海运贸易也十分活跃,历史罕见的压港和低增长的新交船使运力供应高度紧张,市场出现严重的“结构性失调”,不仅夏季淡季不淡,表现火爆。而且在中国“十一”长假期间出现“井喷”行情,BDI指数一举冲破4 500点大关,较上一个历史高点1995年5月1日的2 352点高出2 000多点,三大船型运价水平均创历史新高。之后市场经过半个月的调整又再度发力,BDI再度越过4 700点大关,以完美的表现宣告了今年的结束。各权威机构对世界经济在2004年将加快发展已经基本达成共识,而目前在国际干散货运输市场中起着引擎作用的我国经济发展更是势头强劲,其钢铁工业步入高增长期,已成为不容争辩的事实,这无疑都为国际干散货运输市场提供了一个更加广阔的发展空间。运力方面虽然新交船数量略高,但船舶压港短时间内难以解决。因此,2004年的干散货运输市场总体形势看好。     

Fleet deployment optimization for liner shipping: an integer programming model

Extending and improving an earlier work of the second author, an Integer Programming (IP) model is developed to minimize the operating and lay-up costs for a fleet of liner ships operating on various routes. The IP model determines the optimal deployment of an existing fleet, given route, service, charter, and compatibility constraints. Two examples are worked with extensive actual data provided by Flota Mercante Grancolombiana (FMG). The optimal deployment is solved for their existing ship and service requirements and results and conclusions are given.     

湘桂运河建设对长江航运物流格局的影响研究

为做好湘桂运河建设前期论证工作,推动运河连通工程加快实施,从物流通道的视角,以运河前期规划方案和大量调研成果为基础,采用定性分析和定量预测的方法,从内河水运、综合交通、国际物流等层面剖析运河在交通运输格局中的重要地位;从航道网络、港口枢纽、运输组织和货物流向等方面分析运河对长江航运物流格局的影响,预测2035和2050年长江航运向运河通道的货运分流量。     

定期租船合同中租金的确定

船舶营运中,船舶经营人以期租方式将船租给承运人时,运价的确定是租船合同中一项重要的内容。从船舶经营人的角度出发,通过分析船舶营运成本,将上述复杂的计算编制成简明的EXCEL计算程序,以期对船舶经营人有所裨益。     

Opportunities for increased profit and reduced cost and emissions by service differentiation within container liner shipping

This paper investigates opportunities for increased profit and reduced emissions and cost by service differentiation within container shipping. Traditionally the strategy among the container lines has been profit maximization by utilizing economies of scale through the building of larger and faster vessels. In 2008, the financial crisis in combination with higher fuel prices put an end to this progress and in today’s market operators are basically trying to survive by providing standardized services at the lowest possible cost. This study investigates alternative strategies and the results indicate that container lines should provide two different services instead of one standardized service. A fast service to be more competitive versus air freight for fast-moving goods and a slow service to be more competitive versus traditional shipping types for transport of minor bulk, break bulk, liquid bulk and project cargo.     

用于极地海域运输系统的基于模拟的概率设计方法（英文）

When designing an arctic cargo ship, it is necessary to consider multiple stochastic factors. This paper evaluates the merits of a simulation-based probabilistic design method specifically developed to deal with this challenge. The outcome of the paper indicates that the incorporation of simulations and probabilistic design parameters into the design process enables more informed design decisions. For instance, it enables the assessment of the stochastic transport capacity of an arctic ship, as well as of its long-term ice exposure that can be used to determine an appropriate level of ice-strengthening. The outcome of the paper also indicates that significant gains in transport system cost-efficiency can be obtained by extending the boundaries of the design task beyond the individual vessel. In the case of industrial shipping, this allows for instance the consideration of port-based cargo storage facilities allowing for temporary shortages in transport capacity and thus a reduction in the required fleet size/ship capacity.