Optimization in container liner shipping

We will give an overview of several decision problem encountered in liner shipping. We will cover problems on the strategic, tactical and operational planning levels as well as problems that can be considered at two planning levels simultaneously. Furthermore, we will shortly discuss some related problems in terminals, geographical bottlenecks for container ships and provide an overview of operations research methods used in liner shipping problems. Thereafter, the decision problems will be illustrated using a case study for six Indonesian ports

Emission charge and liner shipping network configuration ‐ an economic investigation of the Asia‐Europe route

This paper models shipping lines’ operational costs and CO2 emissions under alternative geographic network configurations when an emission charge is imposed on operations from Asia to Europe. Our modeling results suggest that shipping firms’ network configuration is influenced by emission charge, fuel price, port loading and unloading cost, and demand pattern of cargo transport across different markets. Total emission will be reduced by an EU emission charge scheme. However, if the charge is above a threshold, carriers will reconfigure shipping networks to minimize their costs including emission charge payments. This will offset part of the emission reduction achieved by the emission scheme. As a result, a higher charge does not always lead to a higher emission reduction. In addition, the performance of major ports along the Asia-Europe routes will be influenced in different ways, leading to conflicting views from regional governments. These findings reveal possible market distortions associated with regional emission systems, and highlight the complex effects of international environmental policies when market dynamics are considered