Vessel scheduling in liner shipping: Modeling transport of perishable assets

Abstract

International seaborne containerized trade significantly increased over the last years. Some assets transported in a containerized form by vessels are perishable in nature. Perishable assets deteriorate due to certain operational and environmental factors. This paper proposes a novel mixed integer non-linear mathematical model for the vessel scheduling problem in a liner shipping route with perishable assets, which explicitly captures decay of perishable assets on board the vessels. The objective aims to minimize the total route service cost, including the asset decay cost. The original non-linear mathematical model is linearized using a set of piecewise linear secant approximations. CPLEX is used to solve the linearized mathematical model. Numerical experiments are conducted for the French Asia Line 1 route, served by CMA CGM liner shipping company, to evaluate performance of the suggested solution approach and reveal some important managerial insights. Results demonstrate that the developed mathematical model can serve as an effective planning tool for liner shipping companies in designing efficient vessel schedules and reducing decay of perishable assets on board the vessels.