The Optimization of Port Charge Rates on Inland Waterways

Abstract

Inland waterways play an important role in the transport system of the country because of their ability to provide large volumes of traffic at low cost. The port charges are an important source of financial resources for the infrastructure development of inland waterways and river ports. The most optimal port charge rate can be determined only by appropriate economic and mathematical models. Such models are built and investigated first in general form, then the necessary condition of port charge rate optimality is found. This optimal rate is a fixed point of continuous mapping, which translates non-empty compact convex set in itself. The optimization of port charge rates by the criterion of maximum profit at different costs and competitors rates is shown on corresponding visual charts of dependencies. The models of port charge rates optimization on internal waterways under three various possible principal kinds of dependence of ship calls from these rates (linear, convex up, convex down) are also built. The relevant optimal values of port charge rates and the related amounts of ship calls and financial results are analytically determined. It makes possible to choose the adequate for real data type of dependence and determine its parameters by methods of mathematical statistics, then substitute these values into the appro­priate formulas to obtain optimal values of port charges. This approach can be used to facilitate the development of inland waterways.