IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v146y2021icp314-332.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing freight rate of spot market containers with uncertainties in shipping demand and available ship capacity

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Yadong
  • Meng, Qiang

Abstract

Liner container shipping company satisfies container shipping demand from both long-term contracts and spot market. Different from the shipping demand from long-term contracts whose freight rate is usually negotiated between the shipping company and the customer, the freight rate of the spot demand is usually determined by the shipping company itself. This paper thus focuses on how to determine the optimal freight rate of spot containers for each origin and destination (OD) pairs of a shipping network to maximize the total profit. To further reflect industry practice, two types of uncertainties are considered, i.e., the uncertain spot demand volume due to stochastic slot booking arrivals and cancelations, and the uncertain remaining ship capacity for the spot demand after satisfying other demand types with higher priority (e.g. delayed containers). This problem is first formulated as a two-stage stochastic nonlinear and nonconvex programming model. A tailored spatial branch-and-bound-and-Benders algorithm is then developed to obtain the global optimal solution of the model. Numerical experiments also demonstrate the efficiency of the solution algorithm and the applicability of the proposed model in improving the profit from the spot shipping demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Yadong & Meng, Qiang, 2021. "Optimizing freight rate of spot market containers with uncertainties in shipping demand and available ship capacity," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 314-332.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:146:y:2021:i:c:p:314-332
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2021.02.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261521000382
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.trb.2021.02.008?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. Wang, Shuaian & Meng, Qiang, 2012. "Liner ship fleet deployment with container transshipment operations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 470-484.
    2. Giovanni Pantuso & Kjetil Fagerholt & Stein W. Wallace, 2016. "Uncertainty in Fleet Renewal: A Case from Maritime Transportation," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 390-407, May.
    3. Wang, Shuaian & Wang, Hua & Meng, Qiang, 2015. "Itinerary provision and pricing in container liner shipping revenue management," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 135-146.
    4. Goh, Shao Hung & Chan, Yuxian, 2016. "Operational shadow pricing in back haul container shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 3-15.
    5. Karsten, Christian Vad & Brouer, Berit Dangaard & Desaulniers, Guy & Pisinger, David, 2017. "Time constrained liner shipping network design," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 152-162.
    6. Meng, Qiang & Wang, Tingsong, 2011. "A scenario-based dynamic programming model for multi-period liner ship fleet planning," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 401-413, July.
    7. Yadong Wang & Qiang Meng & Haibo Kuang, 2019. "Intercontinental Liner Shipping Service Design," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(2), pages 344-364, March.
    8. Aydin, N. & Lee, H. & Mansouri, S.A., 2017. "Speed optimization and bunkering in liner shipping in the presence of uncertain service times and time windows at ports," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 259(1), pages 143-154.
    9. Song, Dong-Ping & Dong, Jing-Xin, 2012. "Cargo routing and empty container repositioning in multiple shipping service routes," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1556-1575.
    10. 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.
    11. Wang, Yadong & Meng, Qiang & Du, Yuquan, 2015. "Liner container seasonal shipping revenue management," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 141-161.
    12. Jianfeng Zheng & Ziyou Gao & Dong Yang & Zhuo Sun, 2015. "Network Design and Capacity Exchange for Liner Alliances with Fixed and Variable Container Demands," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 886-899, November.
    13. Christian Edinger Munk Plum & Peter Neergaard Jensen & David Pisinger, 2014. "Bunker purchasing with contracts," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 16(4), pages 418-435, December.
    14. Zheng, Wei & Li, Bo & Song, Dong-Ping, 2017. "Effects of risk-aversion on competing shipping lines’ pricing strategies with uncertain demands," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 337-356.
    15. Richa Agarwal & Özlem Ergun, 2008. "Ship Scheduling and Network Design for Cargo Routing in Liner Shipping," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(2), pages 175-196, May.
    16. Sun, Qinghe & Meng, Qiang & Chou, Mabel C., 2021. "Optimizing voyage charterparty (VCP) arrangement: Laytime negotiation and operations coordination," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(1), pages 263-270.
    17. Zhou, Wei-Hua & Lee, Chung-Yee, 2009. "Pricing and competition in a transportation market with empty equipment repositioning," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 677-691, July.
    18. Wang, Yadong & Meng, Qiang & Jia, Peng, 2019. "Optimal port call adjustment for liner container shipping routes," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 107-128.
    19. Qiang Meng & Shuaian Wang & Henrik Andersson & Kristian Thun, 2014. "Containership Routing and Scheduling in Liner Shipping: Overview and Future Research Directions," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(2), pages 265-280, May.
    20. Wang, Tingsong & Tian, Xuecheng & Wang, Yadong, 2020. "Container slot allocation and dynamic pricing of time-sensitive cargoes considering port congestion and uncertain demand," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    21. Meng, Qiang & Zhao, Hui & Wang, Yadong, 2019. "Revenue management for container liner shipping services: Critical review and future research directions," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 280-292.
    22. Jun Xia & Kevin X. Li & Hong Ma & Zhou Xu, 2015. "Joint Planning of Fleet Deployment, Speed Optimization, and Cargo Allocation for Liner Shipping," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 922-938, November.
    23. 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.
    24. Bell, Michael G.H. & Liu, Xin & Angeloudis, Panagiotis & Fonzone, Achille & Hosseinloo, Solmaz Haji, 2011. "A frequency-based maritime container assignment model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(8), pages 1152-1161, September.
    25. Zhen, Lu & Wang, Shuaian & Zhuge, Dan, 2017. "Dynamic programming for optimal ship refueling decision," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 63-74.
    26. Guericke, Stefan & Tierney, Kevin, 2015. "Liner shipping cargo allocation with service levels and speed optimization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 40-60.
    27. Qi, Xiangtong & Song, Dong-Ping, 2012. "Minimizing fuel emissions by optimizing vessel schedules in liner shipping with uncertain port times," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 863-880.
    28. Zhijia Tan & Yadong Wang & Qiang Meng & Zhixue Liu, 2018. "Joint Ship Schedule Design and Sailing Speed Optimization for a Single Inland Shipping Service with Uncertain Dam Transit Time," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 1570-1588, December.
    29. Ng, ManWo, 2017. "Revisiting a class of liner fleet deployment models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 257(3), pages 773-776.
    30. 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.
    31. Dong-Wook Song & Photis M. Panayides, 2002. "A conceptual application of cooperative game theory to liner shipping strategic alliances," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 285-301.
    32. Faiz A. Al-Khayyal & James E. Falk, 1983. "Jointly Constrained Biconvex Programming," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 273-286, May.
    33. Wang, Shuaian & Liu, Zhiyuan & Bell, Michael G.H., 2015. "Profit-based maritime container assignment models for liner shipping networks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 59-76.
    34. Wang, Hua & Meng, Qiang & Zhang, Xiaoning, 2014. "Game-theoretical models for competition analysis in a new emerging liner container shipping market," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 201-227.
    35. Richa Agarwal & Özlem Ergun, 2010. "Network Design and Allocation Mechanisms for Carrier Alliances in Liner Shipping," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(6), pages 1726-1742, December.
    36. Meng, Qiang & Wang, Shuaian, 2012. "Liner ship fleet deployment with week-dependent container shipment demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 222(2), pages 241-252.
    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. Liu, Baoli & Li, Zhi-Chun & Wang, Yadong, 2023. "A branch-and-price heuristic algorithm for the bunkering operation problem of a liquefied natural gas bunkering station in the inland waterways," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 145-170.
    2. Lai, Xiaofan & Wu, Lingxiao & Wang, Kai & Wang, Fan, 2022. "Robust ship fleet deployment with shipping revenue management," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 169-196.
    3. Liang, Jinpeng & Li, Liming & Zheng, Jianfeng & Tan, Zhijia, 2023. "Service-oriented container slot allocation policy under stochastic demand," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Tan, Zhijia & Zeng, Xianyang & Shao, Shuai & Chen, Jihong & Wang, Hua, 2022. "Scrubber installation and green fuel for inland river ships with non-identical streamflow," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Wenjing Guo & Bilge Atasoy & Wouter Beelaerts Blokland & Rudy R. Negenborn, 2022. "Anticipatory approach for dynamic and stochastic shipment matching in hinterland synchromodal transportation," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 483-517, June.
    6. Wang, Yadong & Wang, Shuaian, 2021. "Deploying, scheduling, and sequencing heterogeneous vessels in a liner container shipping route," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Hui Zhao & Qiang Meng & Yadong Wang, 2022. "Robust container slot allocation with uncertain demand for liner shipping services," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 551-579, September.
    8. Wang, Yadong & Gu, Yuyun & Wang, Tingsong & Zhang, Jun, 2022. "A risk-averse approach for joint contract selection and slot allocation in liner container shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).

    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. Lee, Chung-Yee & Song, Dong-Ping, 2017. "Ocean container transport in global supply chains: Overview and research opportunities," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 442-474.
    2. Zhen, Lu & Hu, Yi & Wang, Shuaian & Laporte, Gilbert & Wu, Yiwei, 2019. "Fleet deployment and demand fulfillment for container shipping liners," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 15-32.
    3. Wang, Hua & Wang, Shuaian & Meng, Qiang, 2014. "Simultaneous optimization of schedule coordination and cargo allocation for liner container shipping networks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 261-273.
    4. Wang, Shuaian, 2014. "A novel hybrid-link-based container routing model," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 165-175.
    5. Xi Jiang & Haijun Mao & Yadong Wang & Hao Zhang, 2020. "Liner Shipping Schedule Design for Near-Sea Routes Considering Big Customers’ Preferences on Ship Arrival Time," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Lai, Xiaofan & Wu, Lingxiao & Wang, Kai & Wang, Fan, 2022. "Robust ship fleet deployment with shipping revenue management," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 169-196.
    7. Meng, Qiang & Lee, Chung-Yee, 2016. "Liner container assignment model with transit-time-sensitive container shipment demand and its applicationsAuthor-Name: Wang, Shuaian," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 135-155.
    8. Wang, Yadong & Wang, Shuaian, 2021. "Deploying, scheduling, and sequencing heterogeneous vessels in a liner container shipping route," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    9. Wang, Yadong & Gu, Yuyun & Wang, Tingsong & Zhang, Jun, 2022. "A risk-averse approach for joint contract selection and slot allocation in liner container shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    10. Sun, Qinghe & Meng, Qiang & Chou, Mabel C., 2021. "Optimizing voyage charterparty (VCP) arrangement: Laytime negotiation and operations coordination," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(1), pages 263-270.
    11. Zhen, Lu & Wu, Yiwei & Wang, Shuaian & Laporte, Gilbert, 2020. "Green technology adoption for fleet deployment in a shipping network," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 388-410.
    12. Zheng, Jianfeng & Sun, Zhuo & Zhang, Fangjun, 2016. "Measuring the perceived container leasing prices in liner shipping network design with empty container repositioning," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 123-140.
    13. Yadong Wang & Qiang Meng & Haibo Kuang, 2019. "Intercontinental Liner Shipping Service Design," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(2), pages 344-364, March.
    14. Nguyen Khoi Tran & Hans-Dietrich Haasis & Tobias Buer, 2017. "Container shipping route design incorporating the costs of shipping, inland/feeder transport, inventory and CO2 emission," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(4), pages 667-694, December.
    15. Zheng, Jianfeng & Qi, Jingwen & Sun, Zhuo & Li, Feng, 2018. "Community structure based global hub location problem in liner shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 1-19.
    16. Akyüz, M. Hakan & Lee, Chung-Yee, 2016. "Service type assignment and container routing with transit time constraints and empty container repositioning for liner shipping service networks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 46-71.
    17. Wang, Shuaian & Liu, Zhiyuan & Bell, Michael G.H., 2015. "Profit-based maritime container assignment models for liner shipping networks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 59-76.
    18. Moussawi-Haidar, Lama & Nasr, Walid & Jalloul, Maya, 2021. "Standardized cargo network revenue management with dual channels under stochastic and time-dependent demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(1), pages 275-291.
    19. Wang, Shuaian & Wang, Hua & Meng, Qiang, 2015. "Itinerary provision and pricing in container liner shipping revenue management," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 135-146.
    20. Wang, Shuaian, 2013. "Essential elements in tactical planning models for container liner shipping," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 84-99.

    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:146:y:2021:i:c:p:314-332. 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.