The container shipping network design problem with empty container repositioning

This paper addresses the design of container liner shipping service networks by explicitly taking into account empty container repositioning. Two key and interrelated issues, those of deploying ships and containers are usually treated separately by most existing studies on shipping network design. In this paper, both issues are considered simultaneously. The problem is formulated as a two-stage problem. A genetic algorithm-based heuristic is developed for the problem. Through a number of numerical experiments that were conducted it was shown that the problem with the consideration of empty container repositioning provides a more insightful solution than the one without.     

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.     

Urban gravity in the global container shipping network

While the spatial and functional relationships between ports and cities have been put in question in the last decades, the continued importance of urbanization and maritime transport in global socio-economic development motivates deeper research on their interaction. The global trade network is often studied at the country level and all transport modes included, concluding that distance remains a strong counterforce to exchange. This article wishes to detect whether the global container shipping network obeys similar properties at the city level. More than 2 million inter-port vessel movements between 1977 and 2016 are assigned to about 9000 ports and 4600 cities to run a gravity model on two different network topologies. Gravitational properties are found, as larger cities connect more with each other but less at distance. The degree of distance effects negatively expanded in 40 years, confirming the “puzzling” or reinforcing effect of distance, yet it varies greatly depending on node aggregation and network topology. We conclude that ports and cities continue to share important interdependencies, but these often rest on a detrimental physical transformation. A discussion is proposed about the underlying operational and theoretical mechanisms at stake. Keywords container shipping; gravity model; maritime trade; port cities; spatial interaction; world city networks.     

Sailing speed optimization for container ships in a liner shipping network

This paper first calibrates the bunker consumption - sailing speed relation for container ships using historical operating data from a global liner shipping company. It proceeds to investigate the optimal sailing speed of container ships on each leg of each ship route in a liner shipping network while considering transshipment and container routing. This problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. In view of the convexity, non-negativity, and univariate properties of the bunker consumption function, an efficient outer-approximation method is proposed to obtain an ε-optimal solution with a predetermined optimality tolerance level ε. The proposed model and algorithm is applied to a real case study for a global liner shipping company.     

Liner hub-and-spoke shipping network design

This paper proposes a liner hub-and-spoke shipping network design problem by introducing the concept of a main port, as well as some container shipping constraints such as multi-type container shipment and transit time constraints, which are seldom considered in the previous studies. It develops a mixed-integer programming model with nonconvex multi-linear terms for the proposed problem. An efficient genetic algorithm embedded with a multi-stage decomposition approach is developed to solve the model. Numerical experiments are carried out to assess the effectiveness of the proposed model and the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Global intermodal liner shipping network design

This paper presents a holistic analysis for the network design problem of the intermodal liner shipping system. Existing methods for liner shipping network design mainly deal with port-to-port demand. However, most of the demand has inland origins and/or destinations. Thus, it is necessary to cope with inland origin–destination (OD) pairs involving a change in transport mode from inland transportation to maritime shipping. A method is first proposed to convert inland OD demand to port-to-port demand. Then, a framework for global intermodal liner shipping network design is proposed. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to and numerically verified by a large-scale network example.     

The development of the Yangtze River container port system

This paper sheds an empirical light on port development patterns by discussing the structure and the development of the Yangtze River ports system. We argue that the Yangtze River system is going through a regionalization phase, mainly in relation to the port of Shanghai. This process started on the lower Yangtze but is now also moving upstream. The transition towards the port regionalization phase is typically a gradual and market-driven process that mirrors the increased focus of market players on logistics integration. This paper builds on the existing literature on port systems and adapts port development models to river ports. Furthermore, we employ some statistical techniques that are common to the analysis of port systems, and introduce some techniques that have not been used much by transport geographers in ports. This paper will address the dynamics in the Yangtze River ports system by analyzing the level of cargo concentration and the degree of inequality in operations of the container ports. The paper also assesses observed differences in development of ports in different areas along the river (upstream/downstream) and reflects on the role of ownership structures in shaping regional load centre networks.     

Study on China-EU container shipping network in the context of Northern Sea Route

The emerging Northern Sea Route (NSR) represents change to the existing liner network for China-EU container shipping. It is necessary to re-examine the container network in this context and assist liner companies in decision-making. This paper assesses the potential of the NSR based on designing a multi-port multi-trip liner service by establishing a two-stage optimization model. Based on the estimated data of NSR shipping, ship routing schemes on both the NSR and conventional routes are proposed. It is determined that container service along the NSR is largely influenced by ice-breaking charge, seasonality, and cargo volume, which makes NSR more likely to act as a supplementary line of the liner network in the short or medium term. The results also indicate that use of NSR may drive the redeployment of shipping network and hub ports in the long term. This study's conclusions may prove useful for strategic planning by liner companies, port authorities, and governments to assess the operation of liner service via the NSR.     

长江航运安全文化建设研究

安全文化是指安全生产在意识形态领域和人们思想观念上的综合反映,包括安全价值观、安全判断标准和安全能力、安全行为方式等。长江航运安全文化建设是安全文化在长江航运业的应用,结合安全文化定义,笔者认为,长江航运安全文化为：长江航运业的单位和个人在长江航运生产活动中创造的关于安全生产、安全生活、保护长江生态环境的精神、观念、行为的总和,是长江航运安全理念与价值观和航运安全行为准则相互融合的体现。     

Liner shipping hub network design in a competitive environment

A mixed integer programming formulation is proposed for hub-and-spoke network design in a competitive environment. It addresses the competition between a newcomer liner service provider and an existing dominating operator, both operating on hub-and-spoke networks. The newcomer company maximizes its market share—which depends on the service time and transportation cost—by locating a predefined number of hubs at candidate ports and designing its network. While general-purpose solvers do not solve instances of even small size, an accelerated Lagrangian method combined with a primal heuristic obtains promising bounds. Our computational experiments on real instances of practical size indicate superiority of our approach.     

Levels of internationalization in the container shipping industry: an assessment of the port networks of the large container shipping companies

This paper examines the internationalization level of the world’s largest container shipping companies by examining their port networks. The results of our analysis show that only three of the nineteen companies could be considered as being truly ‘International’ and service the ‘lion’s share’ of the major and minor ports distributed across the globe. The port networks of the other companies in our survey, whilst having individualized features, shared common characteristics. Guided by the ‘Uppsala Model of Incremental Internationalization’ (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977), we were able to identify four internationalization levels of a container shipping company that are indicated by their port network.We argue that the port network plays an additional role as it contributes to the internationalization level of the container shipping companies. This is important because the internationalization level affects the container shipping company’s ability to expand its customer base both at a local and international level. Local customers would have access to a larger international destination network and international customers would be able access a larger local distribution network without transhipping between different companies.Amongst other issues, we were able to determine that, for the analyzed container shipping companies, ‘Internationalization’ of a port network means including or excluding ports in specific regions or sub-regions in their own network, and that a company’s home base or history plays a significant role in this development.     

论长江航运科学发展的十个重大问题

按照全面建设小康社会的总体部署,以科学发展观为统领,交通运输部长江航务管理局新的领导班子在深入分析和认真思考长江航运发展面临的形势和任务后,明确提出了2020年实现长江航运现代化的总体目标和“四个长江、三步构建”的发展战略,围绕“建设长江黄金水道,发展现代长江航运”这条主线,全力打造“平安长江、数字长江、阳光长江、     

The time constrained multi-commodity network flow problem and its application to liner shipping network design

The multi-commodity network flow problem is an important sub-problem in several heuristics and exact methods for designing route networks for container ships. The sub-problem decides how cargoes should be transported through the network provided by shipping routes. This paper studies the multi-commodity network flow problem with transit time constraints which puts limits on the duration of the transit of the commodities through the network. It is shown that for the particular application it does not increase the solution time to include the transit time constraints and that including the transit time is essential to offer customers a competitive product.     

长江港口向现代化迈进——建国60年长江港口发展纪实

一、建国初期直至文革前（1949～1965年）这一时期,长江港口生产和建设虽然曾受过一些干扰,但从总体看,恢复和发展还是比较快的。     

改革开放以来的长江港口体制机制改革

从八十年代开始,按照市场经济原则,长江港口体制机制进行了一系列的改革,由国家交通部直接管理改为中央与地方政府双重领导,以地方政府领导为主的管理体制。最后又将中央和地方双重领导的长江港口,改为全部下放给当地的地方政府管理。并按照一城一港的原则实行政企分开。港口企业按照现代企业制度进行改造,有的港口企业成为上市公司,并招商引资促进了港口的建设和发展。目前长江已成为世界上运量最大的通航河流,超过美国的密西西比河和欧洲的莱茵河。     

关于建立湖北沿江城市带的几点思考

建构湖北沿江城市带是加速湖北经济全面发展的战略步骤。沿江城市带的建构对优化湖北现有经济资源,加速湖北城市化进程,推动湖北经济与长江经济带的全面对接,均具有重大的意义。建构湖北沿江城市带不仅十分必要,而且切实可行。建设湖北沿江城市带应当遵循“面向长江”、“一主两副”、“开放发展”等原则,从而使沿江城市带建设沿着高起点和协调有序的方向稳步推进。     

Fleet deployment, network design and hub location of liner shipping companies

A mixed integer linear programming formulation is proposed for the simultaneous design of network and fleet deployment of a deep-sea liner service provider. The underlying network design problem is based on a 4-index (5-index by considering capacity type) formulation of the hub location problem which are known for their tightness. The demand is elastic in the sense that the service provider can accept any fraction of the origin–destination demand. We then propose a primal decomposition method to solve instances of the problem to optimality. Numerical results confirm superiority of our approach in comparison with a general-purpose mixed integer programming solver.     

沿江铁路通道武汉至南京段方案研究

提升沿江铁路通道的综合运输效率和运输能力,需要合理确定沿江铁路通道各线路的功能定位及运输分工,探讨新建线路的可行性。在阐述沿江铁路通道武汉至南京段现状及规划的基础上,分析研究年度沿江铁路通道各线路的功能定位及运输分工,提出分流替代、提速改造、新建客货共线铁路和新建350 km/h高速铁路4种方案,从工程投资、旅行时间、通道能力适应性、线路衔接顺畅度和运输分工协调性等方面进行综合比选,最终推荐新建350 km/h高速铁路方案为沿江铁路通道武汉至南京段最佳方案。该方案的提出可以为提升沿江铁路通道的运输质量,促进华中和华东地区协同发展,构建长江经济带综合立体交通走廊和生态廊道奠定坚实基础。     

长江大型散货航运企业运营模式分析

目前,从事长江省际散货运输的企业达3000余家,船舶24万余艘,总载重量在1600万吨以上。长江散货航运企业主要提供长江干线及主要支流运输、江海直达运输等运输服务,其客户资源大致可分为川江市场、中部市场、皖江市场和苏沪市场等4个区域。     

Robust schedule design for liner shipping services

This paper examines the design of liner ship route schedules that can hedge against the uncertainties in port operations, which include the uncertain wait time due to port congestion and uncertain container handling time. The designed schedule is robust in that uncertainties in port operations and schedule recovery by fast steaming are captured endogenously. This problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear stochastic programming model. A solution algorithm which incorporates a sample average approximation method, linearization techniques, and a decomposition scheme, is proposed. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate that the algorithm obtains near-optimal solutions with the stochastic optimality gap less 1.5% within reasonable time.