Liner Shipping Network Research Articles

The Logistic of Empty Containers′ Return in the Liner-Shipping Network

Abstract The Maritime Transport is a favoured tool regarding the universal exchanges because it has gone through several evolutions. Indeed, the containerization is considered as one of the most remarkable improvements in the shipping. The containers are rented by shipping companies. However, these companies meet an empty container availability problem at some ports of Maritime Transport Network (MTN) to satisfy the demands of clients. The objective of this work is to solve the problem of the imbalance of the distribution of containers and look for empty containers at less cost to meet the demands of clients. As a result, the authors propose an application to represent the MTN, and provide a balanced distribution of containers. The work presented in this article is based on a heuristic method by neighbourhood. It allows the process of the clients' demands and transfers of full containers as well as the research of empty containers by optimizing the cost of theirs return.

Location of regional and international hub ports in liner shipping

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the location of regional and international hub ports in liner shipping by proposing a hierarchical hub location problem. Design/methodology/approach This paper develops a mixed-integer linear programming model for the authors’ proposed problem. Numerical experiments based on a realistic Asia-Europe-Oceania liner shipping network are carried out to account for the effectiveness of this model. Findings The results show that one international hub port (i.e. Rotterdam) and one regional hub port (i.e. Zeebrugge) are opened in Europe. Two international hub ports (i.e. Sokhna and Salalah) are located in Western Asia, where no regional hub port is established. One international hub port (i.e. Colombo) and one regional hub port (i.e. Cochin) are opened in Southern Asia. One international hub port (i.e. Singapore) and one regional hub port (i.e. Jakarta) are opened in Southeastern Asia and Australia. Three international hub ports (i.e. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Yokohama) and two regional hub ports (i.e. Qingdao and Kwangyang) are opened in Eastern Asia. Originality/value This paper proposes a hierarchical hub location problem, in which the authors distinguish between regional and international hub ports in liner shipping. Moreover, scale economies in ship size are considered. Furthermore, the proposed problem introduces the main ports.

Competitive Liner Shipping Network Design

We present a solution method for the liner shipping network design problem which is a core strategic planning problem faced by container carriers. We propose the first practical algorithm which explicitly handles transshipment time limits for all demands. Individual sailing speeds at each service leg are used to balance sailing speed against operational costs, hence ensuring that the found network is competitive on both transit time and cost. We present a matheuristic for the problem where a MIP is used to select which ports should be inserted or removed on a route. Computational results are presented showing very promising results for realistic global liner shipping networks. Due to a number of algorithmic enhancements, the obtained solutions can be found within the same time frame as used by previous algorithms not handling time constraints. Furthermore, we present a sensitivity analysis on fluctuations in bunker price which confirms the applicability of the algorithm.

Designing Indonesian Liner Shipping Network

As the largest archipelago nation in the world, Indonesia’s logistics system has not shown excellence according to the parameters of logistics performance index and based on logistics costs percentages from overall GDP. This is due to the imbalances of trading on the western and eastern regions in Indonesia, which impacts the transportation systems costs to and from the eastern regions. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the competitiveness of Indonesian maritime logistics through maritime logistics network design. This research will focus on three levels of decision making in logistics network design, which include type of ships in the strategic level, shipping routes in the tactical level, and container allocation in the operational level with implementing butterfly routes in Indonesia’s logistics networking problems. Furthermore, this research will analyze the impact of Pendulum Nusantara and Sea Toll routes against the company profits and percentages of containers shipped. This research will also foresee how demand uncertainties and multi-period planning should affect decision making in designing the Indonesian Liner Shipping Network.

A reactive container rerouting model for container flow recovery in a hub-and-spoke liner shipping network

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the container rerouting due to a disruption, aims at making the optimal container flow recovery plan for the affected liner shipping company. First, we make the initial effort to bring up with a basic framework of disruption management for liner shipping. Second, we present a compact integer linear programming model for addressing the container rerouting problem under the proposed framework in a hub-and-spoke liner shipping network, based on a given recovery vessel schedule that determines to omit a port of call. Other shipping companies’ services and other modes (roadway, railway, and airline) as candidate alternative means to transport the miss-connected containers are also incorporated in the proposed model. The container flow recovery plan would select the optimal alternative paths for the miss-connected containers balancing the trade-off between container transport costs and delivery delay penalty costs. Finally, a case study from a global liner shipping company is investigated and the computational results indicate the model can be solved effectively and efficiently for the real-scale problem. Thus, the proposed approach in this paper can supply real-time decision support tool for the liner shipping operators on handling the process of container flow recovery.

Cooperative liner shipping network design by means of a combinatorial auction

Cooperation in the ocean liner shipping industry has always been important to improve liner shipping networks (LSN’s). As tight cooperations like alliances are challenged by antitrust laws, looser forms of cooperation among liner carriers might become a reasonable way to increase efficiency of LSN’s. Our goal is to facilitate a loose form of cooperation among liner carriers. Therefore, we introduce a coordination mechanism for designing a collaborative LSN based on a multi round combinatorial auction. Via the auction, carriers exchange demand triplets, i.e. orders which describe the transport of containers between ports. A standard network design problem which includes ship scheduling and cargo routing decisions is used as isolated network design problem of an individual carrier. A carrier has to solve this isolated problem repeatedly during the auction so that the carrier is able to decide which demand triplets to sell, on which demand triplets to bid, and what prices to charge. To solve these problems we propose a variable neighborhood search based matheuristic. The matheuristic addresses the isolated planning problem in four phases (construct ship cycles, modify cycles, determine container flow, and reallocate ships to cycles). Our computational experiments on a set of 56 synthetic test instances suggest that the introduced combinatorial auction increases profits on average compared to isolated planning significantly by 4%. The more diverse the original assignment of demand triplets and ships to carriers is, the higher the potential for collaboration; for 18 diverse instances, the profits increase on average by 10%.

Optimization in liner shipping

Seaborne trade is the lynchpin in almost every international supply chain, and about 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container. In this survey we give an overview of data-driven optimization problems in liner shipping. Research in liner shipping is motivated by a need for handling still more complex decision problems, based on big data sets and going across several organizational entities. Moreover, liner shipping optimization problems are pushing the limits of optimization methods, creating a new breeding ground for advanced modelling and solution methods. Starting from liner shipping network design, we consider the problem of container routing and speed optimization. Next, we consider empty container repositioning and stowage planning as well as disruption management. In addition, the problem of bunker purchasing is considered in depth. In each section we give a clear problem description, bring an overview of the existing literature, and go in depth with a specific model that somehow is essential for the problem. We conclude the survey by giving an introduction to the public benchmark instances LINER-LIB. Finally, we discuss future challenges and give directions for further research.

Liner shipping networks, port characteristics and the impact on port performance

This paper explores how shipping networks are structured and investigates the relationship between network characteristics of major liner shipping firm ports and their throughputs. This study employs network analysis to evaluate network characteristics of ports and panel regression analysis to investigate the relationship between port network characteristics and their cargo throughputs. The results suggest that liner shipping networks exhibit properties of scale-free networks and that throughput performance is determined not only by macroeconomic variables and service capabilities, but also by the centrality of ports in networks.

Network assignment model of integrating maritime and hinterland container shipping: application to Central America

The authors develop a model to predict worldwide container movements including both maritime and land shipping network from the viewpoint of cargo owners, given the liner shipping network provided by shipping companies and the level of service in each port. The network assignment methodology is applied to both an intermodal shipping network and maritime shipping sub-network, by which the solution can be obtained in a huge, real-scale network including more than 150 worlds’ container ports as well as some hinterland network of the world. The developed model is applied to the Central American region, where the international maritime containers are often transported across national borders by land. It is confirmed that the model output agrees with the actual container movement in terms of the container cargo throughput for each port, land container flow, and maritime flow by shipping company in Central America. Also, the model sensitivity to key parameters included in the model is confirmed reasonable. Finally, it is also confirmed that the model can predict the volume of containers handled in the port of La Union, where no liner service had previously called and a new liner service calls.

2港間定期航路における連結コンテナの経済性に関する基礎的研究

2港間定期航路における連結コンテナの経済性に関する基礎的研究

Robust optimisation of liner shipping network on Yangtze River with considering weather influences

With robust optimisation and considering the weather influences, liner shipping network on Yangtze River is designed. A model optimising shipping network is built based on the attributes of the river to determine the network, the fleet size and the operation frequency. To consider the bad weather, the robust optimisation method is used to evolve the former model to a robust one. A numerical examination is done by taking 12 ports and 28 cities along the river as the nodes. It is shown that only one type of vessel will be used if the weather influences are considered, while when the weather influences are not considered different types of vessels should be used in different river segments. In the robust network, containers may change from waterway to highway and the profit of waterway declines by 30.5%, while the reliability of the transportation in the region along the river increases by 25%.

Optimal Container Routing in Liner Shipping Networks Considering Repacking 20 ft Containers into 40 ft Containers

The volume of a 40 ft container is twice as large as that of a 20 ft container. However, the handling cost (loading, unloading, and transshipment) of a 40 ft container is much lower than twice the corresponding handling cost of two 20 ft containers. Enlightened by this observation, we propose a novel container routing with repacking problem in liner shipping, where two 20 ft containers can be repacked to a 40 ft container in order to reduce the handling cost. We develop a mixed-integer linear programming model that formulates the routing decisions and the repacking decisions in a holistic manner. An illustrative example is reported to demonstrate the applicability of the model. Results show that the benefit of repacking is the most significant when containers are transshipped several times.

Robust optimisation of liner shipping network on Yangtze River with considering weather influences

Robust optimisation of liner shipping network on Yangtze River with considering weather influences

Mathematically calculating the transit time of cargo through a liner shipping network with various trans-shipment policies

ABSTRACTThis paper derives the mathematical expressions for the transit time of cargo through a liner shipping network. Main efforts are devoted to deriving the calculation expressions of the connection time of cargo during trans-shipment. For the forward and many-to-one trans-shipment policies, we conduct a minor correction towards the expressions in existing studies to improve the completeness. Meanwhile, we propose an alternative but more straightforward calculation method for connection time which bypasses the complicated inductive argument in existing studies. Then we introduce two new trans-shipment policies: backward trans-shipment and one-to-many trans-shipment, and mathematically calculate the corresponding connection times. Numerical experiments also deliver some managerial insights into the effectiveness of backward trans-shipment in transit time control.

The governance of intermediacy: The insertion of Panama in the global liner shipping network

The paper investigates the emergence of Panama as a major intermediary location in the global liner shipping network and the associated governance changes. From its initial function of a point of transit, Panama became a tollbooth with the setting of the Panama Canal mostly servicing intercoastal networks. Then, with the growth of transpacific trade and increasing ship sizes Panama became a major transshipment hub, a process facilitated by reforms of its port governance with setting of a landlord port authority model and concessions to private terminal operators. With the emergence of Panama as a logistics platform, governance has gone beyond the realm of the port. The setting of a national Logistics Cabinet in 2014 is illustrative of that trend aiming at coordinating the operations of the Panama Canal (with its expanded locks), port activities focusing on transshipment and the setting of port centric logistics zones. Still, the intermediary location of Panama is facing some risk in the post expansion era since shipping lines are no longer forced to use Panama and could elect for other transshipment hubs. In light of the emerging commercial context, it remains to be seen how the connectivity of Panama will fit within global supply chain strategies.

Analyzing complex service structures in liner shipping network design

One of the most important strategic decisions of a liner shipping company is the design of a set of cyclic routes, services, for container vessels to provide transport for goods from origins to destinations. This problem is called the liner shipping network design problem (LSNDP). The cyclic nature of the services as well as the possibility of transshipping cargoes between services makes the problem difficult to solve for large instances. Therefore, it is common to make assumptions regarding the structure of the services. We analyze the effect of different structures ranging from simple ones visiting a port once in a service, to butterfly services where one port can be visited twice in a service and a more general structure where every port in a service can be visited more than once. To perform these analyses, we have developed a new mathematical model for the LSNDP where there are no limitations on the number of visits to each port. The model is solved by a branch-and-price method, where we for the sake of computational time have reduced the number of visits per port on a service to a maximum of two. The computational study shows that complex service structures can create more cost-efficient networks and that the objective value can be improved by allowing general service structures even for small sized instances.

Formulating cargo inventory costs for liner shipping network design

ABSTRACTThis study examines how to incorporate the inventory costs of containerized cargoes into existing liner service planning models such that the designed networks could be improved while not causing extra modeling/computational burden. Two approaches are compared: (i) not considering the inventory costs at all and (ii) incorporating the inventory costs associated with onboard time and those related to transshipment by assuming a fixed connection time. The two models are compared with the ideal model capturing the exact inventory costs on a route choice problem and a capacity planning problem based on extensive randomly generated and practical numerical experiments. The results show that: first, ignoring the inventory costs in service planning models may lead to network design with much higher costs (poor network design decisions); second, in service planning models assuming weekly frequency, the inventory costs associated with onboard time could be formulated exactly, and those related to the connection time of weekly services could be approximated by assuming fixed connection time of 3.5 days for ports with 1 day’s minimum connection time and 4.5 days for ports with 2 days’ minimum connection time.

Measuring the perceived container leasing prices in liner shipping network design with empty container repositioning

This paper aims to measure the perceived container leasing prices at different ports by presenting a two-stage optimization method. In stage I, we propose a practical liner shipping network design problem with empty container repositioning. The proposed problem further considers the use of foldable containers and allows the mutual substitution between empty containers to decrease the number of empty containers to be repositioned. In stage II, the inverse optimization technique is used to determine the perceived container leasing prices at different ports, based on the solution obtained in stage I. Based on a set of candidate liner shipping service routes, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is built for the proposed problem in stage I. The nonlinear terms are linearized by introducing the auxiliary variables. Numerical experiments based on a realistic Asia-Europe-Oceania liner shipping network are carried out to account for the effectiveness of our two-stage optimization method.

Modelling the impact of liner shipping network perturbations on container cargo routing: Southeast Asia to Europe application

Understanding how container routing stands to be impacted by different scenarios of liner shipping network perturbations such as natural disasters or new major infrastructure developments is of key importance for decision-making in the liner shipping industry. The variety of actors and processes within modern supply chains and the complexity of their relationships have previously led to the development of simulation-based models, whose application has been largely compromised by their dependency on extensive and often confidential sets of data. This study proposes the application of optimisation techniques less dependent on complex data sets in order to develop a quantitative framework to assess the impacts of disruptive events on liner shipping networks. We provide a categorization of liner network perturbations, differentiating between systemic and external and formulate a container assignment model that minimises routing costs extending previous implementations to allow feasible solutions when routing capacity is reduced below transport demand. We develop a base case network for the Southeast Asia to Europe liner shipping trade and review of accidents related to port disruptions for two scenarios of seismic and political conflict hazards. Numerical results identify alternative routing paths and costs in the aftermath of port disruptions scenarios and suggest higher vulnerability of intra-regional connectivity.

Liner container assignment model with transit-time-sensitive container shipment demand and its applications

This paper proposes a practical tactical-level liner container assignment model for liner shipping companies, in which the container shipment demand is a non-increasing function of the transit time. Given the transit-time-sensitive demand, the model aims to determine which proportion of the demand to fulfill and how to transport these containers in a liner shipping network to maximize the total profit. Although the proposed model is similar to multi-commodity network-flow (MCNF) with side constraints, unlike the MCNF with time delay constraints or reliability constraints that is NP-hard, we show that the liner container assignment model is polynomially solvable due to its weekly schedule characteristics by developing two link-based linear programing formulations. A number of practical extensions and applications are analyzed and managerial insights are discussed. The polynomially solvable liner container assignment model is then applied to address several important decision problems proposed by a global liner shipping company.