Empty Container Management—The Case of Hinterland

International trade imbalances make the management of empty containers within shipping networks an important economic and ecological problem. While import-dominated ports accumulate large amounts of empty containers, export-dominated ports need them as transport resources, requiring a repositioning transportation of empty containers on the sea and land side. Acknowledging the importance of the problem, plenty of respective literature has appeared. Since periodic review inventory management systems allow to model the inherent stochasticity of empty container transportation, they have emerged as a major solution approach in the domain. Nevertheless, existing approaches often omit crucial economic and ecological real world conditions determining the success of empty container management. Pollution, repair options, and street-turns are important aspects in this context. In this work, we present new stochastic review policies incorporating a realistic allocation scheme for empty container emissions, realistic maintenance, and repair options as well as street-turns. We analyze the optimality of the proposed polices and evaluate them in a simulation model with metaheuristic parameter search based on extensive real-world data from a major global shipping company operating in Latin America. Results provide insights for academics and practitioners about the economic and ecological impact of the distinct empty container management polices within a shipping network.

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Economic Return Quantity Model for a Multi-type Empty Container Management with Possible Storage Constraint and Shared Cost of Shipping

American Journal of Mathematical and Management Sciences ◽

10.1080/01966324.2020.1769516 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 345-361

Author(s):

Olufemi Adetunji ◽

Sarma Yadavalli ◽

Rafid AlRikabi ◽

Sebatjane Makoena

Keyword(s):

Empty Container ◽

Economic Return ◽

Container Management ◽

Storage Constraint

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Direct shipping service routes with an empty container management strategy

Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review ◽

10.1016/j.tre.2018.07.009 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 118 ◽

pp. 123-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Yoonjea Jeong ◽

Subrata Saha ◽

Debajyoti Chatterjee ◽

Ilkyeong Moon

Keyword(s):

Management Strategy ◽

Empty Container ◽

Container Management

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MODEL OF THE OFF-DOCK DEPOT CONGESTION PROBLEM: VALIDATION THROUGH DELPHI TECHNIQUE

Journal of Information System and Technology Management ◽

10.35631/jistm.516003 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (16) ◽

pp. 35-49

Author(s):

Rosmaizura Mohd Zain ◽

Ainon Ramli

Keyword(s):

Delphi Technique ◽

Clear Understanding ◽

Empty Container ◽

Problem Model ◽

Average Value ◽

Container Transport ◽

Container Management ◽

Container Depots ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Delphi Analysis

World trade has grown over the last two decades and has led to increasing demand for containers. As such, container transport by truck is growing either inside or outside the port terminal. This study aims to gain expert confirmation of the clarity and practicality of the 'congestion problem model in empty container depots' through the Delphi technique. This technique is carried out in two rounds by several experts who have knowledge and experience in container management. Overall, the Delphi analysis shows that the average value exceeds 75%, proving that the model of the congestion problem chain has been approved by the panel of experts. Finally, all panel of experts has the same view regarding the development of this model that it is able to provide a clear understanding of the factors involved in congestion problems outside of the port. Therefore, this model can also serve as a guideline for stakeholders to reduce delays especially during the operation of empty container pick-up and drop-off.

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A Time‐Based Policy for Empty Container Management by Consignees

Production and Operations Management ◽

10.1111/poms.12996 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 1503-1527 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Benjamin Legros ◽

Yann Bouchery ◽

Jan Fransoo

Keyword(s):

Empty Container ◽

Container Management

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Empty Container Logistics

PROMET - Traffic&Transportation ◽

10.7307/ptt.v24i3.315 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 223-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jakov Karmelić ◽

Čedomir Dundović ◽

Ines Kolanović

Keyword(s):

Waiting Time ◽

Container Terminals ◽

Empty Container ◽

Container Logistics ◽

Port Area ◽

Container Management ◽

Trade Distribution ◽

The Status ◽

Empty Containers ◽

Logistic Planning

Within the whole world container traffic, the largest share of containers is in the status of repositioning. Container repositioning results from the need for harmonization between the point of empty container accumulation and the point of demand, and waiting time for the availability of the first next transport of cargo. This status of containers on the container market is the consequence of imbalances in the worldwide trade distribution on most important shipping routes. The need for fast and effective reallocation of empty containers causes high costs and often represents an obstacle affecting the efficiency of port container terminals and inland carriers.In accordance with the above issue, this paper is mainly focused on the analysis of the data concerning global container capacities and the roots of container equipment imbalances, with the aim of determining the importance of empty container management and the need for empty container micro-logistic planning at the spread port area.

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