Integrated Optimization of Port Rotation Direction and Fleet Deployment for Container Liner Shipping Routes

This paper provides an integrated planning methodology for the optimization of port rotation direction and fleet deployment for container liner shipping routes with consideration of demand uncertainty. We first consider a special case that demand is deterministic. A multicommodity flow network model is developed via minimizing the total network-wide cost. Its decisions are the selection of port rotation direction and fleet deployment and container routings in the shipping network. Afterward, we address the generic case that uncertain demand is considered, which is represented by potentially realizable demand scenarios. We develop a minimax regret model to procure the least maximum regret across all the demand scenarios. The proposed models are applied to an Asia-Europe-Oceania liner shipping network with 46 ports and 12 ship routes. Results could provide the liner company with a comprehensive decision tool to simultaneously determine port rotation direction and fleet deployment when tackling uncertain demand.

Yield Management by Reconstruction of Cargo Contribution for Container Shipping

This study provides a cargo contribution yield management model to solve the ship capacity control problem for the container liner shipping industry. We propose a new objective to optimize cargo contribution to replace the focus on total revenue or average revenue in the current research. We reflect the special characteristics of yield management in container liner shipping, and all cost items were identified and calculated to develop a new cargo contribution evaluating system. We propose a mathematical model for service route segments’ allocation distribution based on cargo contribution. We use a genetic algorithm to solve the model further with comparative analysis with actual practice. The study cultivates new ground in the current literature with a wide range of innovative applications at a practical level.