Repositioning of reusable containers in a sustainable global supply chain environment

Abstract

This research is motivated by the analysis of typical transportation and inventory management problems encountered by a global maritime carrier. Nearly 80% of the world's imported products move by ships transporting containers between ports. A major problem revolves around repositioning empty reusable containers within a global network of ports after the product arrives at its final destination. One major source of complexity arises due to imbalances of demand and supply for empty containers in each port. Our ongoing work with firms across other industries such as breakfast cereal manufacturers, baby food manufacturers, large grocers and personal care products manufacturers revealed a similar set of issues related to managing the availability and usage of reusable containers and pallets between shippers, their customers, port operators and the container/pallet leasing companies. This paper develops managerial insights related to the management and repositioning of empty reusable container inventory. We integrate the simulation approach for modelling the system details and analytical methods for describing the trade-offs among returns, receipts and container inventory performance. Our results provide a unique set of insights for port operations in primarily importing countries versus primarily exporting countries in a global supply chain environment.