Repositioning empty containers in East and North China ports
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Repositioning empty containers in East and North China ports S h i h - L i a n g C h a o a n d H u i - C h u a n Yu Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2, Pei-Ning Road, Keelung 20224, Taiwan. E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]
A b s t r a c t This study proposes a mathematical model for repositioning containers to ports in East and North China. With specially devised links and nodes, the proposed model can consider the strategies that are deployed commonly by liners. Moreover, the formulated problem can be solved rapidly owing to its underlying multi-commodity network structure. This feature increases the practicality of the proposed model because sensitivity analyses can be performed rapidly for the purpose of decision-making. Analytical results based on a global liner prove the rationality of the proposed model. Suggestions for repositioning empty containers are given according to the results of sensitivity analyses. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2012) 14, 435–454. doi:10.1057/mel.2012.15
Keywords: liner shipping; container repositioning; multi-commodity network; mathematical programming
Research Background Container traffic throughputs of ports in China have boomed markedly along with the prosperous Chinese economy. Heavy exports from such ports call for numerous containers for cargo loading, which results in the need for repositioning empty containers. In the case of most global liner shipping companies, it is necessary to return empty containers from America and Europe and allocate them among the ports in China to meet the strong demand for exports. However, this operational issue is quite complicated due to the various demands in the different service loops. The problem of repositioning empty containers in China can be divided into two main problems according to the geographic locations of the ports. The first problem is to serve ports located in r 2012 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1479-2931 Maritime Economics & Logistics Vol. 14, 4, 435–454 www.palgrave-journals.com/mel/
Shih-Liang Chao
South China such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen and ports in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). Liners usually discharge a large number of empty containers in Hong Kong or Shenzhen from mother vessels returning from Europe and America and then reposition the empty containers throughout the PRD area using trucks and feeder barges. After being filled with cargo, the laden containers are moved back to Hong Kong or Shenzhen for export. In other words, Hong Kong and Shenzhen are generally used as two inventory hubs for replenishing empty containers in South China. The other problem, which is more complicated, is to reposition empty containers to ports in East and North China. As most container ports in East and North China are situated apart from each other, liners have to deploy vessels in different service loops to move containers, instead of relying on one or two super hub ports (see Figure 1). As Figure 1 illustrates, main container ports are linked by legs of diffe
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