IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v143y2021icp124-159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Robust Bulk Ship Routing Problem with Batched Cargo Selection

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Lingxiao
  • Wang, Shuaian
  • Laporte, Gilbert

Abstract

Maritime transportation forms the backbone of the world merchandise trade. In this paper, we consider a problem that combines three interconnected subproblems in tramp shipping: the fleet adjustment problem, the cargo selection problem, and the ship routing problem. For cargo selection, we consider the decision behaviors under the setting of Contract of Affreightment (COA), in which cargoes should be rejected or accepted as a batch. In view of the uncertainties observed in maritime transportation, we formulate the problem in a robust way so that the solutions can protect the profitability of shipping companies against variations in voyage costs. We first provide compact mixed integer linear programming formulations for the problem and then convert them into a strengthened set covering model. A tailored branch-and-price-and-cut algorithm is developed to solve the set covering model. The algorithm is enhanced by a multi-cut generation technique aimed at tightening the lower bounds and a primal heuristic aimed at finding high-quality upper bounds. Extensive computational results show that our algorithm yields optimal or near-optimal solutions to realistic instances within short computing times and that the enhancement techniques significantly improve the efficiency of the algorithm.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Lingxiao & Wang, Shuaian & Laporte, Gilbert, 2021. "The Robust Bulk Ship Routing Problem with Batched Cargo Selection," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 124-159.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:143:y:2021:i:c:p:124-159
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2020.11.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261520304240
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.trb.2020.11.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chrysanthos E. Gounaris & Wolfram Wiesemann & Christodoulos A. Floudas, 2013. "The Robust Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem Under Demand Uncertainty," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(3), pages 677-693, June.
    2. J E Korsvik & K Fagerholt & G Laporte, 2010. "A tabu search heuristic for ship routing and scheduling," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(4), pages 594-603, April.
    3. Arslan, Ayşe N. & Papageorgiou, Dimitri J., 2017. "Bulk ship fleet renewal and deployment under uncertainty: A multi-stage stochastic programming approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 69-96.
    4. François Vanderbeck, 2005. "Implementing Mixed Integer Column Generation," Springer Books, in: Guy Desaulniers & Jacques Desrosiers & Marius M. Solomon (ed.), Column Generation, chapter 0, pages 331-358, Springer.
    5. Pedro Munari & Alfredo Moreno & Jonathan De La Vega & Douglas Alem & Jacek Gondzio & Reinaldo Morabito, 2019. "The Robust Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows: Compact Formulation and Branch-Price-and-Cut Method," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 1043-1066, July.
    6. Marielle Christiansen & Kjetil Fagerholt & David Ronen, 2004. "Ship Routing and Scheduling: Status and Perspectives," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(1), pages 1-18, February.
    7. Villeneuve, Daniel & Desaulniers, Guy, 2005. "The shortest path problem with forbidden paths," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(1), pages 97-107, August.
    8. Thomas Borthen & Henrik Loennechen & Xin Wang & Kjetil Fagerholt & Thibaut Vidal, 2018. "A genetic search-based heuristic for a fleet size and periodic routing problem with application to offshore supply planning," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 7(2), pages 121-150, June.
    9. Pelletier, Samuel & Jabali, Ola & Laporte, Gilbert, 2019. "The electric vehicle routing problem with energy consumption uncertainty," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 225-255.
    10. Pesenti, Raffaele, 1995. "Hierarchical resource planning for shipping companies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 91-102, October.
    11. George B. Dantzig & Philip Wolfe, 1960. "Decomposition Principle for Linear Programs," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 8(1), pages 101-111, February.
    12. Christiansen, Marielle & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Nygreen, Bjørn & Ronen, David, 2013. "Ship routing and scheduling in the new millennium," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(3), pages 467-483.
    13. Halvorsen-Weare, Elin E. & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Nonås, Lars Magne & Asbjørnslett, Bjørn Egil, 2012. "Optimal fleet composition and periodic routing of offshore supply vessels," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 508-517.
    14. Brønmo, Geir & Nygreen, Bjørn & Lysgaard, Jens, 2010. "Column generation approaches to ship scheduling with flexible cargo sizes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 139-150, January.
    15. Jørgen Laake & Abraham Zhang, 2016. "Joint optimization of strategic fleet planning and contract analysis in tramp shipping," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 203-211, January.
    16. Marco E. Lübbecke & Jacques Desrosiers, 2005. "Selected Topics in Column Generation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(6), pages 1007-1023, December.
    17. de Ruiter, Frans & Brekelmans, Ruud & den Hertog, Dick, 2016. "The impact of the existence of multiple adjustable robust solutions," Other publications TiSEM eabf3802-3965-40ef-b26d-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Birge, John R. & Louveaux, Francois V., 1988. "A multicut algorithm for two-stage stochastic linear programs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 384-392, March.
    19. Shi, Yubing, 2016. "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping: Is it time to consider market-based measures?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 123-134.
    20. Lo, Hong K. & McCord, Mark R., 1995. "Routing through dynamic ocean currents: General heuristics and empirical results in the gulf stream region," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 109-124, April.
    21. Magirou, Evangelos F. & Psaraftis, Harilaos N. & Bouritas, Theodore, 2015. "The economic speed of an oceangoing vessel in a dynamic setting," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 48-67.
    22. Arslan, Okan & Karaşan, Oya Ekin, 2016. "A Benders decomposition approach for the charging station location problem with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 670-695.
    23. N. L. Schwartz, 1968. "Discrete Programs for Moving Known Cargos from Origins to Destinations on Time at Minimum Bargeline Fleet Cost," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 134-145, May.
    24. Fagerholt, Kjetil & Christiansen, Marielle & Magnus Hvattum, Lars & Johnsen, Trond A.V. & Vabø, Thor J., 2010. "A decision support methodology for strategic planning in maritime transportation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 465-474, December.
    25. Yadong Wang & Qiang Meng & Zhijia Tan, 2018. "Short-term liner shipping bunker procurement with swap contracts," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 211-238, February.
    26. Hee-Su Hwang & Siriwat Visoldilokpun & Jay M. Rosenberger, 2008. "A Branch-and-Price-and-Cut Method for Ship Scheduling with Limited Risk," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 336-351, August.
    27. C Lee & K Lee & S Park, 2012. "Robust vehicle routing problem with deadlines and travel time/demand uncertainty," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 63(9), pages 1294-1306, September.
    28. Homsi, Gabriel & Martinelli, Rafael & Vidal, Thibaut & Fagerholt, Kjetil, 2020. "Industrial and tramp ship routing problems: Closing the gap for real-scale instances," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(3), pages 972-990.
    29. Li, Shuqin & Jia, Shuai, 2019. "The seaport traffic scheduling problem: Formulations and a column-row generation algorithm," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 158-184.
    30. Jonathan De La Vega & Pedro Munari & Reinaldo Morabito, 2019. "Robust optimization for the vehicle routing problem with multiple deliverymen," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 27(4), pages 905-936, December.
    31. Roberto Baldacci & Aristide Mingozzi & Roberto Roberti, 2011. "New Route Relaxation and Pricing Strategies for the Vehicle Routing Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1269-1283, October.
    32. Bakkehaug, Rikard & Eidem, Eirik Stamsø & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Hvattum, Lars Magnus, 2014. "A stochastic programming formulation for strategic fleet renewal in shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 60-76.
    33. Dan A. Iancu & Nikolaos Trichakis, 2014. "Pareto Efficiency in Robust Optimization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(1), pages 130-147, January.
    34. A. Pessoa & R. Sadykov & E. Uchoa & F. Vanderbeck, 2018. "Automation and Combination of Linear-Programming Based Stabilization Techniques in Column Generation," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 339-360, May.
    35. Ruslan Sadykov & François Vanderbeck & Artur Pessoa & Issam Tahiri & Eduardo Uchoa, 2019. "Primal Heuristics for Branch and Price: The Assets of Diving Methods," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 251-267, April.
    36. Pantuso, Giovanni & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Hvattum, Lars Magnus, 2014. "A survey on maritime fleet size and mix problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 341-349.
    37. Du, Yuquan & Meng, Qiang & Wang, Shuaian & Kuang, Haibo, 2019. "Two-phase optimal solutions for ship speed and trim optimization over a voyage using voyage report data," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 88-114.
    38. Stefan Irnich & Guy Desaulniers, 2005. "Shortest Path Problems with Resource Constraints," Springer Books, in: Guy Desaulniers & Jacques Desrosiers & Marius M. Solomon (ed.), Column Generation, chapter 0, pages 33-65, Springer.
    39. Yossiri Adulyasak & Jean-François Cordeau & Raf Jans, 2015. "Benders Decomposition for Production Routing Under Demand Uncertainty," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(4), pages 851-867, August.
    40. Meng, Qiang & Wang, Shuaian & Lee, Chung-Yee, 2015. "A tailored branch-and-price approach for a joint tramp ship routing and bunkering problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-19.
    41. Fagerholt, Kjetil & Lindstad, Håkon, 2000. "Optimal policies for maintaining a supply service in the Norwegian Sea," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 269-275, June.
    42. Yan, Ran & Wang, Shuaian & Du, Yuquan, 2020. "Development of a two-stage ship fuel consumption prediction and reduction model for a dry bulk ship," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    43. Ng, ManWo, 2015. "Container vessel fleet deployment for liner shipping with stochastic dependencies in shipping demand," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 79-87.
    44. Wang, Xin & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Wallace, Stein W., 2018. "Planning for charters: A stochastic maritime fleet composition and deployment problem," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 54-66.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yan, Ran & Wang, Shuaian & Cao, Jiannong & Sun, Defeng, 2021. "Shipping Domain Knowledge Informed Prediction and Optimization in Port State Control," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 52-78.
    2. Beullens, Patrick & Ge, Fangsheng & Hudson, Dominic, 2023. "The economic ship speed under time charter contract—A cash flow approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Eghbal Akhlaghi, Vahid & Campbell, Ann Melissa, 2022. "The two-echelon island fuel distribution problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(3), pages 999-1017.
    4. Duan, Gang & Aghalari, Amin & Chen, Li & Marufuzzaman, Mohammad & Ma, Junfeng, 2021. "Vessel routing optimization for floating macro-marine debris collection in the ocean considering dynamic velocity and direction," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Santos, A.M.P. & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Laporte, Gilbert & Guedes Soares, C., 2022. "A stochastic optimization approach for the supply vessel planning problem under uncertain demand," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 209-228.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Lingxiao & Pan, Kai & Wang, Shuaian & Yang, Dong, 2018. "Bulk ship scheduling in industrial shipping with stochastic backhaul canvassing demand," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PA), pages 117-136.
    2. Pache, Hannah & Grafelmann, Michaela & Schwientek, Anne Kathrina & Jahn, Carlos, 2020. "Tactical planning in tramp shipping - A literature review," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Jahn, Carlos & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Data Science in Maritime and City Logistics: Data-driven Solutions for Logistics and Sustainability. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conferen, volume 30, pages 281-308, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    3. Ksciuk, Jana & Kuhlemann, Stefan & Tierney, Kevin & Koberstein, Achim, 2023. "Uncertainty in maritime ship routing and scheduling: A Literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(2), pages 499-524.
    4. Paul A. Chircop & Timothy J. Surendonk & Menkes H. L. van den Briel & Toby Walsh, 2022. "On routing and scheduling a fleet of resource-constrained vessels to provide ongoing continuous patrol coverage," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 312(2), pages 723-760, May.
    5. Pedro Munari & Alfredo Moreno & Jonathan De La Vega & Douglas Alem & Jacek Gondzio & Reinaldo Morabito, 2019. "The Robust Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows: Compact Formulation and Branch-Price-and-Cut Method," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 1043-1066, July.
    6. Pantuso, Giovanni & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Hvattum, Lars Magnus, 2014. "A survey on maritime fleet size and mix problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 341-349.
    7. Luciano Costa & Claudio Contardo & Guy Desaulniers, 2019. "Exact Branch-Price-and-Cut Algorithms for Vehicle Routing," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 946-985, July.
    8. Artur Alves Pessoa & Michael Poss & Ruslan Sadykov & François Vanderbeck, 2021. "Branch-Cut-and-Price for the Robust Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Knapsack Uncertainty," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 739-754, May.
    9. Said El Noshokaty, 2017. "Shipping Optimisation Systems (SOS): tramp optimisation perspective," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-36, December.
    10. Baldacci, Roberto & Hoshino, Edna A. & Hill, Alessandro, 2023. "New pricing strategies and an effective exact solution framework for profit-oriented ring arborescence problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(2), pages 538-553.
    11. Borzou Rostami & Guy Desaulniers & Fausto Errico & Andrea Lodi, 2021. "Branch-Price-and-Cut Algorithms for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic and Correlated Travel Times," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 69(2), pages 436-455, March.
    12. Timo Gschwind & Stefan Irnich, 2016. "Dual Inequalities for Stabilized Column Generation Revisited," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 175-194, February.
    13. Christiansen, Marielle & Fagerholt, Kjetil & Nygreen, Bjørn & Ronen, David, 2013. "Ship routing and scheduling in the new millennium," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(3), pages 467-483.
    14. Errico, F. & Desaulniers, G. & Gendreau, M. & Rei, W. & Rousseau, L.-M., 2016. "A priori optimization with recourse for the vehicle routing problem with hard time windows and stochastic service times," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(1), pages 55-66.
    15. Meng, Qiang & Wang, Shuaian & Lee, Chung-Yee, 2015. "A tailored branch-and-price approach for a joint tramp ship routing and bunkering problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-19.
    16. Arslan, Ayşe N. & Papageorgiou, Dimitri J., 2017. "Bulk ship fleet renewal and deployment under uncertainty: A multi-stage stochastic programming approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 69-96.
    17. Charlotte Vilhelmsen & Richard M. Lusby & Jesper Larsen, 2017. "Tramp ship routing and scheduling with voyage separation requirements," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 39(4), pages 913-943, October.
    18. Adil Tahir & Guy Desaulniers & Issmail El Hallaoui, 2019. "Integral column generation for the set partitioning problem," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 8(5), pages 713-744, December.
    19. Ann-Kathrin Rothenbächer & Michael Drexl & Stefan Irnich, 2018. "Branch-and-Price-and-Cut for the Truck-and-Trailer Routing Problem with Time Windows," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(5), pages 1174-1190, October.
    20. Jiliu Li & Zhixing Luo & Roberto Baldacci & Hu Qin & Zhou Xu, 2023. "A New Exact Algorithm for Single-Commodity Vehicle Routing with Split Pickups and Deliveries," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 31-49, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:143:y:2021:i:c:p:124-159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/548/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.