To evaluate the transportation time reliability of the maritime transportation network for China’s crude oil imports under node capacity variations resulting from extreme events, a framework incorporating bi-level programming and a Monte Carlo simulation is proposed in this paper. Under this framework, the imported crude oil volume from each source country is considered to be a decision variable, and may change in correspondence to node capacity variations. The evaluation results illustrate that when strait or canal nodes were subject to capacity variations, the network transportation time reliability was relatively low. Conversely, the transportation time reliability was relatively high when port nodes were under capacity variations. In addition, the Taiwan Strait, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Strait of Malacca were identified as vulnerable nodes according to the transportation time reliability results. These results can assist government decision-makers and tanker company strategic planners to better plan crude oil import and transportation strategies.
In this paper we extend the state-of-the-art stochastic programming models for the Maritime Fleet Renewal Problem (MFRP) to explicitly limit the risk of insolvency due to negative cash flows when making maritime shipping investments. This is achieved by modeling the payment of ships in a number of periodical installments rather than in a lump sum paid upfront, representing more closely the actual cash flows for a shipping company. Based on this, we propose two alternative risk control measures, where the first imposes that the cash flow in each time period is always higher than a desired threshold, while the second limits the Conditional Value-at-Risk. We test the two models on realistic test instances based on data from a shipping company. The computational study demonstrates how the two models can be used to assess the trade-offs between risk of insolvency and expected profits in the MFRP.
The maritime industry is one of the greenest modes of transportation, taking care of almost 90% of the global trade. The maritime container business revolves around liner shipping, which consists of container vessels sailing on fixed itineraries. For the last 20 years, there has been an increasing number of publications regarding how to design such fixed routes (services), to ensure a high level of service while minimizing operational costs and environmental impact. The liner shipping network design problem can briefly be described as follows: Given a set of demands (defined by origin, destination, time limit) and a set of vessels with variable capacity, the task is to design a set of weekly services, assign vessels to the services, and flow the demand through the resulting network such that it arrives within the stated time constraints. The objective is to maximize revenue of transported demand subtracting the operational costs. We present an in-depth literature overview of existing models and solution methods for liner shipping network design, and discuss the four main families of solution methods: integrated mixed integer programming models; two-stage algorithms designing services in the first step and flowing containers in the second step; two-stage algorithms first flowing containers and then designing services; and finally algorithms for selecting a subset of proposed candidate services. We end the presentation by comparing the performance of leading algorithms using the public LINER-LIB instances. The paper is concluded by discussing future trends in liner shipping, indicating directions for future research.
Enhancing environmental sustainability in maritime shipping has emerged as an important topic for both firms in shipping-related industries and policy makers. Speed optimization has been proven to be one of the most effective operational measures to achieve this goal, as fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a ship are very sensitive to its sailing speed. Existing research on ship speed optimization does not differentiate speed through water (STW) from speed over ground (SOG) when formulating the fuel consumption function and the sailing time function. Aiming to fill this research gap, we propose a speed optimization model for a fixed ship route to minimize the total fuel consumption over the whole voyage, in which the influence of ocean currents is taken into account. As the difference between STW and SOG is mainly due to ocean currents, the proposed model is capable of distinguishing STW from SOG. Thus, in the proposed model, the ship’s fuel consumption and sailing time can be determined with the correct speed. A case study on a real voyage for an oil products tanker shows that: (a) the average relative error between the estimated SOG and the measured SOG can be reduced from 4.75% to 1.36% across sailing segments, if the influence of ocean currents is taken into account, and (b) the proposed model can enable the selected oil products tanker to save 2.20% of bunker fuel and reduce 26.12 MT of CO2 emissions for a 280-h voyage. The proposed model can be used as a practical and robust decision support tool for voyage planners/managers to reduce the fuel consumption and GHG emissions of a ship
Stowage planning is an NP-hard combinatorial problem concerned with loading a container vessel in a given port, such that a number of constraints regarding the physical layout of the vessel and its seaworthiness are satisfied, and a number of objectives with regard to the quality of the placement are optimized. State-of-the-art methods decompose the problem into phases, the latter of which, known as slot planning, involves loading the containers into slots of a bay. This article presents an efficient matheuristic for the slot planning problem. Matheuristics are algorithms using mathematical programming techniques within a heuristic framework. The method finds solutions for 96% of 236 instances based on real stowage plans, 90% of them optimally, with an average optimality gap of 4.34% given a limit of one second per instance. This is an improvement over the results provided by previous works.
In global liner shipping networks, a large share of transported cargo is transshipped at least once between container vessels, and the total transportation time of these containers depends on how well the corresponding services are synchronized. We propose a problem formulation that integrates service scheduling into the liner shipping network design problem. Furthermore, the model incorporates many industry-relevant modeling aspects: it allows for leg-based sailing speed optimization, it is not limited to simple or butterfly-type services, and it accounts for service-level requirements such as cargo transit time limits. The classic liner shipping network design problem is already a hard problem, and to solve the extended version, we propose a column-generation matheuristic that uses advanced linear programming techniques. The proposed method solves LINER-LIB instances of up to 114 ports and, if applied to the classic liner shipping network design problem, finds new best solutions to all instances, outperforming existing methods reported in the literature. Additionally, we analyze the relevance of scheduling for liner shipping network design. The results indicate that neglecting scheduling and approximating transshipments instead may result in the design of liner shipping networks that underestimate cargo transit times and their implications.
Aiming at reducing CO2 emissions from shipping at the EU level, a system for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of CO2 emissions of ships was introduced in 2015 with the so-called ‘MRV Regulation’. Its stated objective was to produce accurate information on the CO2 emissions of large ships using EU ports and to incentivize energy efficiency improvements by making this information publicly available. On 1 July 2019, the European Commission published the relevant data for 10,880 ships that called at EU ports within 2018. This milestone marked the completion of the first annual cycle of the regulation’s implementation, enabling an early assessment of its effectiveness. To investigate the value of the published data, information was collected on all voyages performed within 2018 by a fleet of 1041 dry bulk carriers operated by a leading Danish shipping company. The MRV indicators were then recalculated on a global basis. The results indicate that the geographic coverage restrictions of the MRV Regulation introduce a significant bias, thus prohibiting their intended use. Nevertheless, the MRV Regulation has played a role in prompting the IMO to adopt its Data Collection System that monitors ship carbon emissions albeit on a global basis.
In supporting multimodal freight transport services, Activity 3.2-3 focuses on identifying the priorities of the shippers (cargo owners) in relation to intermodal logistics solutions that comprise the core of multimodality.
A literature search was performed on this subject. It identified a long list of characteristics that shippers consider necessary for efficient and effective intermodal transport. They include price, delivery time, time reliability of delivery, frequency of shipments, cargo safety and security, reliability of pick up time, ability to respond to customer needs, proactive notification of problems, etc. A number of pre-conditions
were also identified. They include the commodity type, value, density and time-sensitivity, freight distance, direction of haul (head-haul/back-haul), meaningful load factors and transhipment costs. Based on the results of the literature search, a questionnaire was designed for obtaining shippers’ assessment of their experience with intermodality, the factors driving it and the measures proposed for its promotion. It is noted that the latter subject has not been treated by the previous studies examined.
After being revised on the basis of feedback received from logistics experts, the questionnaire was promoted through shipper associations in the five study countries (Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland). Responses were received through an electronic survey lasted from July 2017 to June 2018. The questionnaire was also distributed in paper form to the participants of the event “Future transport and logistics in the Fehmarnbelt Region – How to be prepared for changing cargo flows” on 29 May 2018 during the Fehmarnbelt days 2018 in Malmö, Sweden. Furthermore, responses were enriched by a number of interviews from selected companies and associations.
The majority of the 33 usable responses obtained comes from Germany and Denmark. The companies that have arranged intermodal shipments during 2016 find their experience more than satisfactory.
Germans appear to be 25% happier with intermodality than their Danish counterparts, who are still satisfied. The differential is greater with regard to business types. Freight forwarders, who are more exposed to intermodal realities than shippers, display a much higher satisfaction than the latter, who fall a bit short of the satisfactory level albeit still on the positive side.
Among the reasons for going intermodal, the specific customer/supplier instructions appear to be the most important one. This finding suggests the need to identify the right decision-makers prior to designing activities promoting intermodal transportation. Competitive pricing follows suit surpassing all other quality characteristics (in Germany, it is even more important than customer preferences). This
result contradicts the findings of other studies that assign more importance to attributes such as frequency of service, reliability, etc. The appropriateness of shipment size and the convenience of transit time follow price concerns in the scale of importance. It is interesting to note that the advantages offered by intermodality in terms of low emissions and improved company image appear very low in the
importance spectrum despite the emphasis placed on them by the policy makers.
As expected, the type of business has a bearing on these priorities. Competitive pricing is the main concern of shippers, while from the freight forwarders’ perspective, customer preferences remain the decisive factor. An interesting observation is that the only occasion that environmental concerns climb higher than shipment size and transit time is when it comes to other businesses, probably pointing to the more distant positioning of this type of respondents to the realities of the market place
This chapter is a historical case study of Maersk Line, the world’s leading container carrier. Maersk Line’s global leadership was achieved within a relatively short time period and was the result of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møllers decision in 1973 to enter container shipping—the biggest investment in the history of the AP Moller companies. When Maersk Line managed to achieve global leadership in a period of just about 25 years, the company’s own country offices were particularly important. They allowed the interconnection of three types of networks: The physical network of ships and routes, the digital network of information and communication systems and the human network of Maersk employees. The interaction between the vessels, the systems and the people is still at the core of the company today and central to its continued development.
The port industry is in a state of flux which is affecting the roles of port authorities. Applying a business model perspective to explore this qualitative shift in competition, this paper argues that port authorities are increasingly managing multiple multilateral business models. This is analyzed through an integrative review of port research which identifies four challenges for port authorities: 1) diversification of port customers; 2) requirements for new value creation; 3) changing possibilities and constraints of value capture; and 4) network effects, clusters and strategic partnerships. The review contributes to literature by exploring how managing port authority business model innovation requires changing the underlying business logic, the activities and resources and the configurational fit with other port actors' business models. This proposition is based on the interplay between the macro level port industry, the meso level rule structures within port systems and the micro level of port authority organisations.