LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES IN GRAIN EXPORTING

During the past decade, the grain shipping industry has become highly competitive and technologically advanced. These changes, along with the introduction of innovative shipping mechanisms, have made logistics management an important source of opportunity and risk for grain shippers. In this study, a stochastic simulation model was developed to evaluate the tradeoffs and effects of key variables on logistical performance in managing the grain supply chain. Average demurrage cost for the supply chain was $2.03 million with the greatest cost being for railcars and the least cost being for barges. Of the stochastic variables modeled, changes in export demand had the greatest impact on demurrage costs.Supply Chain, Grain Shipping, Logistics, Demurrage, Guaranteed Freight, Industrial Organization,

The Contractual Pillar of Maritime Decarbonisation: A study on the challenges and potential of improving energy efficiency in shipping through contractual means

Climate change has grown into an increasingly important concern for the shipping industry, but the contractual infrastructure of bulk shipping has not fully evolved to reflect this. As a result, this thesis examines the challenges and potential of improving energy efficiency in shipping through contractual means. In particular, we focus on how charterparties could be adapted to both encourage and enable more efficient ship operations, while also recognising that stakeholders such as shipowners, charterers and cargo owners often have conflicting interests. Furthermore, we also examine the key challenges in revising chartering contracts both generally and specific to different efficiency-oriented contractual solutions. Properly aligning charterparties and all stakeholders’ interests with operational efficiency is important since chartering contracts serve as the underlying framework of international shipping. We combine a literature-based analysis with interviews of key stakeholders in the shipping value chain to not only synthesise previous research results, but also explore how industry experts currently perceive the promise and limits of efficiency-oriented contractual changes. Firstly, we expand the literature by examining the common barriers to revising chartering contracts. Secondly, we review the current status of just-in-time arrivals, particularly when requiring contractual changes, and analyse how policy interventions such as carbon pricing and the upcoming CII regime could also contribute to tackling operational inefficiencies through contractual means. Finally, we evaluate more recent efficiency-linked contractual innovations and assess the challenges they are facing or might face in the future. Our findings suggest that policy interventions are necessary to incentivise more efficient ship operations, but their effectiveness depends heavily on stakeholders’ willingness to adapt contractual structures and fixture behaviour accordingly. As the status quo is maintained by stakeholders’ vested interests, external stimuli are generally required to motivate widespread contractual changes. Furthermore, although charterers and cargo owners play a crucial role for revising charterparties, they have varying responsiveness to price signals and interest in proactively reducing their shipping emissions, which creates some difficulties for improving energy efficiency through contractual means.nhhma

Grains, Trains and Chains: An Agent-Based Model of the Western Canadian Grain Handling and Transportation Supply Chain

An open access policy will be explored to determine if it can restrain incumbent railway behavior and help ensure the continued timely delivery of Saskatchewan wheat to export markets. An agent-based simulation is developed to evaluate the feasibility of implementing competitive access applicable to grain movement. The simulation contains: all grain and oilseed farmers in Saskatchewan, in addition to all primary elevators and inland terminals in the province; both Class I railways; and the port of Vancouver. The model uses agent-based simulation to incorporate spatial and temporal effects into a dynamic supply chain, observing delivery penalty events. A competitive opportunity may be present for a potential rail entrant if the volume and frequency of delivery penalties are high enough and if the locations are sufficiently close enough to make entry feasible. I found in the simulation that there are approximately one million tonnes of wheat that do not move in a timely manner on an annual basis within the province of Saskatchewan. Delivery penalty event volumes averaged approximately 85,000 tonnes per month or approximately 30 shipments across Saskatchewan per month. This delayed grain is not randomly distributed across the elevators in the province, but occurs in dense pockets. I find in the simulation that a potential rail entrant does not earn a profit. The return on investment for an entrant that transported all delivery penalty events to export position is -5.5%. If an entrant attempted “hit-and-run” entry and only transported the largest shipments, their return on investment would increase to -1.7%

Development of decision support system for scheduling LPG supply-distribution at Teluk Semangka Port (Case study : PT. Pertamina Persero)

PT Pertamina (Persero) as the main contributor for LPG supply and distribution in Indonesia relies on the VLGC (Very Large Gas Capacity) for upstream transportation mode. All upstream activities are happened at Teluk Semangka Port, which is the main terminal for import supply and regional distribution throughout Java and Sumatra. The complexity in scheduling VLGC caused time consuming and high cost (demurrage cost and charter cost). Current report stated that through 2007 until 2013, there is a significant demurrage cost increased. This condition can jeopardized the supply and distribution process because of large budget allocation for covering the demurrage cost along with VLGC charter cost. A Decision Support System (DSS) is developed to generate schedule for each operated VLGC that both save time and gives the user recommendation in reducing cost. Several factors are considered in designing the DSS, such as lifting prioritization, demurrage cost, charter cost, and VLGC utilization. Besides its ability to generate complex schedule, an easy to use interface is designed for user to interact with the DSS. From several trials using real data taken from company database, it resulted five operated VLGCs as the best number of VLGCs to be operated. Therefore, it can be a recommendation for deciding the number of operated VLGCs in the following year

Development Of Decision Support System For Scheduling LPG Supply-Distribution At Teluk Semangka Port (Case Study: PT. Pertamina Persero)

PT Pertamina (Persero) as the main contributor for LPG supply and distribution in Indonesia relies on the VLGC (Very Large Gas Capacity) for upstream transportation mode. All upstream activities are happened at Teluk Semangka Port, which is the main terminal for import supply and regional distribution throughout Java and Sumatra. The complexity in scheduling VLGC caused time consuming and high cost (demurrage cost and charter cost). Current report stated that through 2007 until 2013, there is a significant demurrage cost increased. This condition can jeopardized the supply and distribution process because of large budget allocation for covering the demurrage cost along with VLGC charter cost. A Decision Support System (DSS) is developed to generate schedule for each operated VLGC that both save time and gives the user recommendation in reducing cost. Several factors are considered in designing the DSS, such as lifting prioritization, demurrage cost, charter cost, and VLGC utilization. Besides its ability to generate complex schedule, an easy to use interface is designed for user to interact with the DSS. From several trials using real data taken from company database, it resulted five operated VLGCs as the best number of VLGCs to be operated. Therefore, it can be a recommendation for deciding the number of operated VLGCs in the following year

A study of Shoprites imported non-foods supply chain

The objectives of this paper is as follows: to model the current import supply chain; to assess the current import supply chain; to provide insight into the performance of the current supply chain; to provide an evidence-based viewpoint on the imports routing decision; and to develop suggestions for improvements of the supply chain.Final year project (BEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Shoprite retail group, based in South Africa, imports over 90% of their non-food goods. Two routes for transporting imports to Johannesburg were studied, specifically, (1) cross-docking the goods through distribution centres in Cape Town and, (2) direct shipments of entire containers via the port of Durban. A literature study comprised of research on supply chain management, logistics and the purchasing supply chain function was conducted. The literature study described various supply chain techniques, such as centralised distribution, and summarised ways of measuring and improving supply chains. An analysis based on the company’s strategies and financial and other data was used to determine the best route. The cross-docking route via Cape Town was chosen as it is aligned with the current company strategies and aids the visual management system used. There is no significant cost saving when using the Cape Town route, eliminating the choice to base the routing decision solely on financial implications. A detailed analysis of Shoprite’s process of importing revealed several problems. The high demurrage cost was studied further and it was shown that a lack of control of the timing of the release of goods from the supplier causes container storage costs to rise. The suggestion of implementing a freight forwarder to monitor the consolidation and timely shipment of goods was made. The promotion of communication between the buyers, suppliers, replenishers and distribution centre management was further identified as a major stumbling block for improved efficiency. If rectified, it would enable the supply chain to be flexible and allow management of the supply chain as a whole, instead of management of individual parts. An important classification was that of the distribution centres as the bottleneck in the supply chain. The supply chain can be improved by managing the flow of imported goods according to the capacity of the distribution centres. The project achieved its aims of identifying a route that should be used to import non-food goods from the East and of assessing the supply chain to provide improvement strategies.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Shoprite kleinhandel-groep, wat in Suid-Afrika gebaseer is, voer meer as 90% van hulle nievoedsel- goedere in. Die twee roetes wat gebruik word om die goedere in Suid-Afrika na Johannesburg te versprei is bestudeer. Die roetes is, (1) die verwerking van die goedere deur die kruisdok prosedure via verspreidingsentrums in Kaapstad gevolg deur die vervoer van die goedere na Johannesburg toe, en (2) direkte vervoer van hele verskepings via die hawe in Durban. ‘n Literatuur studie oor voorsieningskettingbestuur, logistiek en die verkryging van goedere was onderneem. Die literatuurstudie beskryf verskillende voorsieningsketting tegnieke, soos gesentraliseerde verspreiding, maniere om voorsieningskettings te meet en hoe om dit te verbeter. 'n Analise wat gebaseer is op die maatskappy se strategieë, finansiële en ander inligting, is gebruik om die beste roete te bepaal. Die verwerking roete via Kaapstad is gekies omdat dit saamstem met die maatskappy se strategieë en die visuele bestuurstelsel wat gebruik word ondersteun. Daar is geen beduidende kostebesparing met die gebruik van die Kaapstad-roete nie en veroorsaak dat die keuse rondom die roete nie hoofsaaklik op finansiële implikasies gebaseer kan word nie. 'n Gedetailleerde ontleding van Shoprite se invoerproses is gedoen om enige probleme aan die lig te bring. Die hoë stoorkoste van onverwerkte goedere is verder bestudeer en dit het getoon dat 'n gebrek aan beheer van die vrylating van die goedere van die verskaffer veroorsaak dat stoorkoste styg. Die voorstel is gemaak om ‘n ekspediteur aan te stel wat die goedere kan konsolideer en tydige verskeping moet verseker. Die bevordering van kommunikasie tussen die kopers, verskaffers en verspreiding sentrum bestuur is as ‘n struikelblok teen die bevordering van bekwaamheid. As die probleem opgelos word sal dit die voorsieningsketting in staat stel om buigsaam te wees. Dit sou ook toelaat dat die bestuur van die voorsieningsketting dit as 'n geheel, in plaas van individuele dele, kan bestuur. Die verspreidingsentrums is as die bottelnek van die voorsieningsketting geklassifiseer. Die voorsieningsketting kan verbeter word deur om die vloei van ingevoerde goedere volgens die kapasiteit van die verspreiding sentrums te bestuur. Die doelwitte van die identifisering van 'n roete wat gebruik moet word om 'n nie-voedselgoedere in te voer uit die Ooste en die beoordeling van die voorsieningsketting om verbetering strategieë bekend te maak, is bereik

Port Terminal Appointment Scheduling Problem

El constante aumento del transporte marítimo de los últimos años ha llevado a los operadores de terminales marítimas a investigar nuevas soluciones que aumenten su rendimiento. Un ejemplo actual es la resolución publicada por la Agencia del Petróleo de Brasil en julio de 2022, en la que destaca la importancia de contar con una metodología de programación de citas estructurada para organizar las operaciones buque-tierra.Esta investigación tiene tres objetivos principales: el primero de ellos es abordar el problema de programar citas desde diferentes perspectivas para ayudar al proceso de diseño de tales soluciones. El segundo es facilitar modelos de programación de citas que puedan ayudar a las terminales en sus procesos de optimización. El tercero es estudiar diferentes planteamientos sobre el valor de la información, diferentes plazos de programación, coordinación entre los equipos operativos y de programación, diferentes perfiles de congestión de la agenda, niveles de incertidumbre y normas de programación de atraque, entre otros.El reto consiste en encontrar un plan de cita optimizado que permita maximizar las ganancias de las terminales, considerando particularidades de cada solicitud de operación, incertidumbres en plazos de llegada y en procesamiento de los buques, los costes y ganancias vinculados a los contratos y la norma de secuenciación de atraques que utilizan los equipos operativos.Por un lado, existirán contribuciones en la parte de gestión a través de ideas que pueden impulsar el rendimiento de las terminales. Por otro lado, existirán aportaciones académicas a través de propuestas de modelos de programación de citas que incorporan la aleatoriedad en parámetros y consideran las llegadas como variables endógenas, conforme a diferentes perfiles de solapamiento de la agenda. Por tanto, se propondrán varias heurísticas, que abordarán los problemas de programación de citas aleatorios, enteros y no lineales (SINP, por sus siglas en inglés). Tienen en cuenta las solicitudes de los clientes, los acuerdos contractuales, las distribuciones de plazos de retraso / procesamiento y la norma predefinida de secuencia de atraques como insumos. En función de lo rentable que sean las operaciones, se define qué buques se aceptan o rechazan para operar, así como la fecha de la cita que se espera que se produzca.Debido a cuestiones de dimensionalidad, se propone una metodología de descomposición llamada ¿Cluster First, Schedule Second¿ (Primero agrupar, luego programar) con el fin de reducir el plazo de resolución. El problema principal se descompone en otros más pequeños que se resuelven de manera secuencial mediante la aproximación de la media muestral, de manera que la programación de cada grupo afecta a los siguientes. Los resultados de los modelos de optimización también se evalúan en un entorno de simulación de acontecimientos discreto que reproduce varias restricciones presentes en terminales congestionadas.Por último, se propondrá un conjunto de diez preguntas de investigación que guiarán todo el proceso de experimentación utilizado para probar diferentes temas sobre el problema de programación de citas de terminales portuarias. Entre las conclusiones, cabe destacar que los resultados muestran que las terminales especialmente congestionadas pueden lograr mejoras significativas en beneficios con medidas como las que se presentarán. También, se puede estudiar dar incentivos a los clientes para obtener más información por adelantado sobre la operación, así como aumentar la flexibilidad en la disponibilidad de días. Responder a los clientes de forma estadística dio mejores resultados, puesto que la terminal puede tomar la decisión con toda la información. En caso de que los clientes valoren respuestas dinámicas, una sugerencia podría ser ofrecerles un servicio superior para reducir el impacto general. En términos de normas de atraque, el método FIFO presentó buenos resultados en el caso de terminales con agendas congestionadas, mientras que la norma por programación fue mejor en situaciones con poco solapamiento. En el caso de llegadas al mismo tiempo, se recomienda priorizar en función de las desviaciones más pequeñas. Además, un resultado sorprendente es que las incertidumbres en las llegadas pueden, en algunos casos, ser beneficiosas, pero aceptar ventanas de tiempo en lugar de una fecha programada no lo es.<br /

공컨테이너관리 기법을 활용한 효율적인 컨테이너 공급망

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 산업공학과, 2021. 2. 문일경.Due to a remarkable surge in global trade volumes led by maritime transportation, shipping companies should make a great effort in managing their container flows especially in case of carrier-owned containers. To do so, they comprehensively implement empty container management strategies and accelerate the flows in a cost- and time-efficient manner to minimize total relevant costs while serving the maximal level of customers demands. However, many critical issues in container flows universally exist due to high uncertainty in reality and hinder the establishment of an efficient container supply chain. In this dissertation, we fully discuss such issues and provide mathematical models along with specific solution procedures. Three types of container supply chain are presented in the following: (i) a two-way four-echelon container supply chain; (ii) a laden and empty container supply chain under decentralized and centralized policies; (iii) a reliable container supply chain under disruption. These models explicitly deal with high risks embedded in a container supply chain and their computational experiments offer underlying managerial insights for the management in shipping companies. For (i), we study empty container management strategy in a two-way four-echelon container supply chain for bilateral trade between two countries. The strategy reduces high maritime transportation costs and long delivery times due to transshipment. The impact of direct shipping is investigated to determine the number of empty containers to be repositioned among selected ports, number of leased containers, and route selection to satisfy the demands for empty and laden containers for exporters and importers in two regions. A hybrid solution procedure based on accelerated particle swarm optimization and heuristic is presented, and corresponding results are compared. For (ii), we introduce the laden and empty container supply chain model based on three scenarios that differ with regard to tardiness in the return of empty containers and the decision process for the imposition of fees with the goal of determining optimal devanning times. The effectiveness of each type of policy - centralized versus decentralized - is determined through computational experiments that produce key performance measures including the on-time return ratio. Useful managerial insights on the implementation of these polices are derived from the results of sensitivity analyses and comparative studies. For (iii), we develop a reliability model based on container network flow while also taking into account expected transportation costs, including street-turn and empty container repositioning costs, in case of arc- and node-failures. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to analyze the impact of disruption on container supply chain networks, and a benchmark model was used to determine disruption costs. More importantly, some managerial insights on how to establish and maintain a reliable container network flow are also provided.해상 수송이 주도함으로써 전 세계 무역량이 급증하기 때문에 회사 소유 컨테이너는 컨테이너 흐름을 관리하는 데 많은 노력을 기울여야 한다. 이를 위해 공 컨테이너 관리 전략을 포괄적으로 구현하고 효율적인 수송 비용 및 시간 절감 방식으로 컨테이너 흐름을 원활히 하여 관련 총비용을 최소화하는 동시에 고객의 수요를 최대한 충족하게 된다. 그러나 현실에서는 높은 불확실성 때문에 컨테이너 흐름에 대한 많은 주요한 이슈가 보편적으로 존재하고 효율적인 컨테이너 공급망 구축을 방해한다. 본 논문에서는 이러한 이슈에 대해 전반적으로 논의하고 적절한 해법과 함께 수리 모형을 제공한다. 이를 위해 세 가지 유형의 컨테이너 공급망을 다룬다. 먼저 (i) 양방향 네 단계 컨테이너 공급망, (ii) 분권화 및 중앙 집중화 정책에 따른 적∙공 컨테이너 공급망; 그리고 (iii) disruption 상황 속에서 신뢰성을 고려하는 컨테이너 공급망이다. 본 논문에서 제시한 세 가지 모형은 컨테이너 공급망에 내재 된 높은 위험을 직접 다루며 계산 실험은 해운 회사의 경영진이나 관계자를 위해 주요한 관리 인사이트를 제공한다. (i)의 경우, 두 지역 간 양자 무역을 위한 양방향 네 단계 컨테이너 공급망에서 공 컨테이너 관리 전략을 연구한다. 이 전략은 환적으로 인한 높은 해상 운송 비용과 긴 배송 시간을 줄일 수 있다. 또한, 직항 수송의 영향을 조사하여 선택된 항구 중 재배치 할 공 컨테이너 수, 임대 컨테이너 수, 두 지역의 수출업자와 수입업자의 적∙공 컨테이너 대한 수요를 만족하기 위한 경로 선택을 결정하게 된다. APSO 및 휴리스틱을 기반으로 하는 하이브리드 해법을 제시하며 비교 실험을 하였다. (ii)의 경우 최적 devanning time 결정을 목표로 공 컨테이너의 반환 지연과 해당 수수료 부과 결정 프로세스와 관련하여 서로 다른 세 가지 시나리오를 기반으로 적∙공 컨테이너 공급망 모형을 제시한다. 각 유형의 정책적(분권화 및 중앙 집중화) 효과는 정시 반환율을 포함한 주요 성능 측정을 고려하는 계산 실험을 통해 결정된다. 이러한 정책 실행에 대한 유용한 관리 인사이트는 민감도 분석 및 비교 연구의 결과에서 도출한다. (iii)의 경우, 본 논문은 컨테이너 네트워크 흐름을 기반으로 하는 신뢰성 모형을 개발하는 동시에 아크 및 노드 failure가 있을 때 street-turn 및 공 컨테이너 재배치 비용을 포함한 기대 총 비용을 구한다. 중단이 컨테이너 공급망 네트워크에 미치는 영향을 분석하기 위해 민감도 분석을 수행했으며 disruption 비용을 결정하기 위해 벤치마크 모형을 활용한다. 더불어 신뢰성을 고려한 컨테이너 네트워크 흐름을 구축하고 신뢰성을 유지하는 방법에 대한 관리적 인사이트도 제공한다.Abstract i Contents ii List of Tables vi List of Figures viii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Empty Container Repositioning Problem 1 1.2 Reliability Problem 3 1.3 Research Motivation and Contributions 4 1.4 Outline of the Dissertation 7 2. Two-Way Four-Echelon Container Supply Chain 8 2.1 Problem Description and Literature Review 8 2.2 Mathematical Model for the TFESC 15 2.2.1 Overview and Assumptions 15 2.2.2 Notation and Formulation 19 2.3 Solution Procedure for the TFESC 25 2.3.1 Pseudo-Function-based Optimization Problem 25 2.3.2 Objective Function Evaluation 28 2.3.3 Heuristics for Reducing the Number of Leased Containers 32 2.3.4 Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization 34 2.4 Computational Experiments 37 2.4.1 Heuristic Performances 39 2.4.2 Senstivity Analysis of Varying Periods 42 2.4.3 Senstivity Analysis of Varying Number of Echelons 45 2.5 Summary 48 3. Laden and Empty Container Supply Chain under Decentralized and Centralized Policies 50 3.1 Problem Description and Literature Review 50 3.2 Scenario-based Model for the LESC-DC 57 3.3 Model Development for the LESC-DC 61 3.3.1 Centralized Policy 65 3.3.2 Decentralized Policies (Policies I and II) 67 3.4 Computational Experiments 70 3.4.1 Numerical Exmpale 70 3.4.2 Sensitivity Analysis of Varying Degree of Risk in Container Return 72 3.4.3 Sensitivity Analysis of Increasing L_0 74 3.4.4 Sensitivity Analysis of Increasing t_r 76 3.4.5 Sensitivity Analysis of Decreasing es and Increasing e_f 77 3.4.6 Sensitivity Analysis of Discounting 〖pn〗_{f1} and 〖pn〗_{f2} 78 3.4.7 Sensitivity Analysis of Different Container Fleet Sizes 79 3.5 Managerial Insights 81 3.6 Summary 83 4. Reliable Container Supply Chain under Disruption 84 4.1 Problem Description and Literature Review 84 4.2 Mathematical Model for the RCNF 90 4.3 Reliability Model under Disruption 95 4.3.1 Designing the Patterns of q and s 95 4.3.2 Objective Function for the RCNF Model 98 4.4 Computational Experiments 103 4.4.1 Sensitivity Analysis of Expected Failure Costs 106 4.4.2 Sensitivity Analysis of Different Network Structures 109 4.4.3 Sensitivity Analysis of Demand-Supply Variation 112 4.4.4 Managerial Insights 115 4.5 Summary 116 5. Conclusions and Future Research 117 Appendices 120 A Proof of Proposition 3.1 121 B Proof of Proposition 3.2 124 C Proof of Proposition 3.3 126 D Sensitivity Analyses for Results 129 E Data for Sensitivity Analyses 142 Bibliography 146 국문초록 157 감사의 글 160Docto

A Literature Review, Container Shipping Supply Chain: Planning Problems and Research Opportunities

This paper provides an overview of the container shipping supply chain (CSSC) by taking a logistics perspective, covering all major value-adding segments in CSSC including freight logistics, container logistics, vessel logistics, port/terminal logistics, and inland transport logistics. The main planning problems and research opportunities in each logistics segment are reviewed and discussed to promote further research. Moreover, the two most important challenges in CSSC, digitalization and decarbonization, are explained and discussed in detail. We raise awareness of the extreme fragmentation of CSSC that causes inefficient operations. A pathway to digitalize container shipping is proposed that requires the applications of digital technologies in various business processes across five logistics segments, and change in behaviors and relationships of stakeholders in the supply chain. We recognize that shipping decarbonization is likely to take diverse pathways with different fuel/energy systems for ships and ports. This gives rise to more research and application opportunities in the highly uncertain and complex CSSC environment.</jats:p