Improving the port selection process during military deployments

Dave C Longhorn,Shelby V Baybordi,Joshua R Muckensturm

doi:10.1108/jdal-04-2021-0003

Abstract

PurposeThis paper recommends new criteria for selecting seaports of embarkation during military deployments. Most importantly, this research compares the current port selection criterion, which is to select the seaport with the shortest inland transport time from the deploying installation, to the proposed port selection criteria, which are to select the seaport based on the shortest combined inland and oceanic transit time to the destination theater.Design/methodology/approachThe authors construct an original integer program to select seaports that minimize the expected delivery timeline for a set of notional, but realistic, deployment requirements. The integer program is solved considering the current as well as the proposed port selection criteria. The solutions are then compared using paired-samplest-tests to assess the statistical significance of the port selection criteria.FindingsThis work suggests that the current port selection criterion results in a 10–13% slower delivery of deploying forces as compared to the proposed port selection criteria.Research limitations/implicationsThis work assumes deterministic inland transit times, oceanic transit times, and seaport processing rates. Operational fluctuations in transit times and processing rates are not expected to change the findings from this research.Practical implicationsThis research provides evidence that the current port selection criterion for selecting seaports for military units deploying from the Continental United States is suboptimal. More importantly, logistics planners could use these recommended port selection criteria to reduce the expected delivery timelines during military deployments.Originality/valueSeveral military doctrinal references suggest that planners select seaports based on habitual installation-to-port pairings, especially for early deployers. This work recommends a change to the military's current port selection process based on empirical analyses that show improvements to deployment timelines.

Highlights

The United States (US) military deploys large amounts of equipment to overseas locations during times of war
The empirical results presented here are based on representative transportation assets and associated capabilities, a notional physical network similar to real-world deployments, and a random deployment scenario, each of which serve as input data for the integer program (IP) and our subsequent analysis
Chain tie-down flatcars are the primary railcar types used to move military trucks, tanks and other equipment to the seaport. Both government-owned and commercial-owned chain tie-down flatcars will be used during the deployment; government-owned railcars are positioned at major installations in sufficient quantities to ensure the first wave of deploying equipment will have immediate access to railcars to minimize delays in reaching the seaport

Summary

Introduction

The United States (US) military deploys large amounts of equipment to overseas locations during times of war. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff (2013b) notes that about 90% of the equipment deploying from the Continental US (CONUS) is transported by roll-on/roll-off (RORO) sealift ships. Sealift is the preferred mode to transport large amounts of heavy equipment, airlift can transport small amounts of equipment anywhere in the world within a few days (US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2013b). The equipment is loaded onto RORO ships at the CONUS strategic seaports, which are primarily commercially owned. The infrastructure at strategic seaports is heavily leveraged to support global deployment operations (US Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2013b), and each of the ten primary seaports has different attributes, such as geographic location, number of shipping berths, berth length and depth, cargo staging area, and cargo reception and processing rates.

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