ON-LINE SCHEDULING OF EMPTY CONTAINERS

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250018 ◽  
Author(s):  
LELE ZHANG ◽  
ANDREW WIRTH
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Problem ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Container Shipping ◽  
Container Transportation ◽  
Competitive Performance ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Transportation Management ◽  
Empty Container Repositioning ◽  
On Line ◽  
Empty Containers

This paper considers the empty container repositioning problem in an on-line scheduling setting. This optimization problem arising from container transportation management aims to balance empty containers distribution among transportation sites so as to minimize the total operating cost of loaded container shipping, empty container allocation and leasing. In this highly uncertain on-line environment we introduce a heuristic that does not attempt to balance the empty container distribution, and evaluate its competitive performance mathematically and empirically.

An Integer Programming Optimization Model of Container Shipping of Sea-Carriage

2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 2678-2683
Author(s):  
Bin Wang ◽  
Tao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Integer Programming ◽  
Objective Function ◽  
Optimization Model ◽  
Container Shipping ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Shipping Company ◽  
Shipping Cost ◽  
Total Profit ◽  
Empty Containers ◽  
The Cost

The paper dose research about the optimization of container shipping of sea –carriage for meeting the goods transport requirement by use of integer programming. Both laden and empty containers are combined into a system. In particular, the effect of special laden container shipping capacity on the shipping plan is investigated. In the model, the objective function is to maximize the total profit of container shipping. The profit caused by laden container shipping minus the cost caused by both laden and empty container shipping equal to the total profit. The constraints to the model include meeting the need of both laden and empty containers, shipping limit to both common and special laden containers , the number of empty container supported. Lingo9.0 is used to solve the model and shipping methods in varied parameters are shown by simulation. The aim of the paper is to provide a reasonable plan of container shipping of sea-carriage, so the container shipping cost of a shipping company can be reduced and the its profit made by container shipping are maximized.

A Stochastic Programming Optimization Model of Container Shipping of Sea-Carriage

2013 ◽  
Vol 411-414 ◽  
pp. 2715-2720
Author(s):  
Bin Wang ◽  
Tao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Integer Programming ◽  
Stochastic Programming ◽  
Optimization Model ◽  
Container Shipping ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Shipping Company ◽  
Shipping Cost ◽  
Total Profit ◽  
Empty Containers ◽  
The Cost

The paper dose research about the optimization of container shipping of sea carriage for meeting the goods transport requirement by use of stochastic programming. Both laden and empty containers are combined into a system. In particular, the effect of special laden container shipping capacity on the shipping plan is investigated. In the model, the objective function is to maximize the total profit of container shipping. The profit caused by laden container shipping minus the cost caused by both laden and empty container shipping equal to the total profit. The constraints to the model include meeting the need of both laden and empty containers, shipping limit to both common and special laden containers, the number of empty container supported. The number of empty containers is stochastic and the model is transmitted to an integer programming. Lingo9.0 is used to solve the model and shipping methods in varied parameters are shown by simulation. The aim of the paper is to provide a reasonable plan of container shipping of sea-carriage, so the container shipping cost of a shipping company can be reduced and the its profit made by container shipping are maximized.

scholarly journals Empty Container Management at Ports Considering Pollution, Repair Options, and Street-Turns

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norberto Sáinz Bernat ◽  
Frederik Schulte ◽  
Stefan Voß ◽  
Jürgen Böse
Keyword(s):  
Inventory Management ◽  
Real World ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Ecological Problem ◽  
Container Transportation ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Container Management ◽  
Empty Containers

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.

scholarly journals A New Separable Piecewise Linear Learning Algorithm for the Stochastic Empty Container Repositioning Problem

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Shaorui Zhou ◽  
Xiaopo Zhuo ◽  
Zhiming Chen ◽  
Yi Tao
Keyword(s):  
Cost Function ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Piecewise Linear ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Expected Cost ◽  
Stochastic Programs ◽  
Empty Container Repositioning ◽  
Empty Containers

A common challenge faced by liner operators in practice is to effectively allocate empty containers now in a way that minimizes the expectation of costs and reduces inefficiencies in the future with uncertainty. To incorporate uncertainties in the operational model, we formulate a two-stage stochastic programming model for the stochastic empty container repositioning (ECR) problem. This paper proposes a separable piecewise linear learning algorithm (SPELL) to approximate the expected cost function. The core of SPELL involves learning steps that provide information for updating the expected cost function adaptively through a sequence of piecewise linear separable approximations. Moreover, SPELL can utilize the network structure of the ECR problem and does not require any information about the distribution of the uncertain parameters. For the two-stage stochastic programs, we prove the convergence of SPELL. Computational results show that SPELL performs well in terms of operating costs. When the scale of the problem is very large and the dimensionality of the problem is increased, SPELL continues to provide consistent performance very efficiently and exhibits excellent convergence performance.

A Multi-Stage Approach for Empty Container Repositioning Under Coordination Among Liner Carriers

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110215
Author(s):  
Bo Du ◽  
Hao Hu ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Meng Meng
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Transportation Cost ◽  
Liner Shipping ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Empty Container Repositioning ◽  
Holding Cost ◽  
Empty Containers ◽  
Inventory Holding

This paper studies the empty container repositioning (ECR) problem considering the exchange of slots and empty containers among liner shipping companies. It is common for an individual shipping company to seek an optimal solution for ECR and cargo routing to maximize its own benefits. To achieve cooperation among shipping companies, a multi-stage solution strategy is proposed. With the inverse optimization technique, the guide leasing prices of slots and empty containers among shipping companies are derived considering the schedule of vessels and cargo routing. Based on the guide leasing price, a cooperative model is formulated to minimize the total cost, which includes the transportation cost for laden containers, the inventory holding cost, the container leasing cost, and the repositioning cost. All the involved shipping companies are expected to follow the best solution of ECR and cargo routing to achieve a cooperative and stable optimum. A real-world shipping network operated by three liner shipping companies is used as a case study with promising numerical results.

scholarly journals Do Foldable Containers Enhance Efficient Empty Container Repositioning under Demand Fluctuation?—Case of the Pacific Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4730
Author(s):  
Zirui Liang ◽  
Ryuichi Shibasaki ◽  
Yuji Hoshino
Keyword(s):  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Scenario Analyses ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Empty Container Repositioning ◽  
Empty Containers ◽  
Reduction Effect ◽  
The Cost

This study considers the empty container repositioning problem of shipping companies that use standard and 3-in-1 foldable containers with more advanced designs. A mathematical model is developed to compare the total management costs of container repositioning of various patterns in different cargo shipping demand scenarios. Numerous scenario analyses and simulations of empty container repositioning were conducted, focusing on a liner shipping service in the Pacific Islands where empty containers are likely to be present because of the imbalance between inbound and outbound flows of containers, including static analysis and consecutive analysis with demand fluctuation in different approaches. Results show that with the introduction of foldable containers, depending on the growth rate of container cargo shipping demand, the total management costs of empty container repositioning can be reduced. However, introducing a large number of foldable containers may increase the total management costs of container repositioning. Moreover, the cost reduction effect of adding another containership increases in cases where future cargo shipping demand increases substantially. Furthermore, the introduction of foldable containers not only effectively reduces the management costs of empty containers, but also makes costs more stable and predictable.

scholarly journals Analysis of Container Communication in Artificial Intelligence

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-38
Author(s):  
Raphael Duval Folsom
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Container Shipping ◽  
Container Transportation ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Service Efficiency ◽  
The Development Trend

With the rapid growth of international container transportation and the development trend of large-scale ships, there are deficiencies in ship utilization and transportation economy. More and more liner companies are actively building and optimizing container shipping network to improve service efficiency and reduce unit operating cost. The optimization model of container shipping network is established. Taking the minimum total cost of container shipping network as the objective, considering the constraints of shipping network, the immune algorithm is applied to solve the model, to determine the optimal container transportation network. Finally, two schemes are designed, and the simulation analysis results can select an optimal scheme, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified.

Maritime Empty Container Repositioning

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossein Khakbaz ◽  
Jyotirmoyee Bhattacharjya
Keyword(s):  
Classification Scheme ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Empty Container ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Maritime Shipping ◽  
Empty Container Repositioning ◽  
Shipping Containers ◽  
Empty Containers ◽  
The Cost

Maritime shipping containers are important to a number of different industries as they facilitate the reduction of transportation costs. To address the needs of shippers, empty containers need to be repositioned globally between seaports. Since the cost of empty container repositioning (ECR) constitutes a significant element of the total cost of running a global container fleet operation, the problem has been receiving increasing attention from scholars. The diversity of this literature necessitates the development an appropriate classification scheme to identify trends, gaps, and directions for future research. This paper reviews publications on maritime ECR over the last two decades and examines such trends and potential research directions.

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