A binary particle swarm optimization algorithm for ship routing and scheduling of liquefied natural gas transportation

With the increasing global demands for energy, fuel supply management is a challenging task of today’s industries in order to decrease the cost of energy and diminish its adverse environmental impacts. To have a more environmentally friendly fuel supply network, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is suggested as one of the best choices for manufacturers. As the consumption rate of LNG is increasing dramatically in the world, many companies try to carry this product all around the world by themselves or outsource it to third-party companies. However, the challenge is that the transportation of LNG requires specific vessels and there are many clauses in related LNG transportation contracts which may reduce the revenue of these companies, it seems essential to find the best option for them. The aim of this paper is to propose a meta-heuristic Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) algorithm to come with an optimized solution for ship routing and scheduling of LNG transportation. The application demonstrates what sellers need to do to reduce their costs and increase their profits by considering or removing some obligations

Ship routing and scheduling for the assembly of a LNG plant in the arctic: a decision support system

The construction of a Liquid Natural Gas plant in Yamal, Russia, required the assembly of modules transported from yards in Asia. In early stages of such projects, the feasibility of on-time shipping plans is a critical area of risk assessment, in particular in the arctic where accessibility is limited by ice and vessel supply. By describing the modelling and implementation of a Decision Support System designed to create optimal shipping plans, this paper contributes to show the relevance of the Northern Sea Route for industrial projects in the arctic and to illustrate the role of risk mitigation tools

Techno‑economic analysis of natural gas distribution using a small‑scale liquefied natural gas carrier

The design of the gas distribution for small-demand power plants located on remote islands is logistically challenging. The use of small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels can be an option for these logistic problems. This paper aims to conduct a techno-economic analysis of using small-scale LNG vessels for gas distribution to the power plants that are spread across different islands. Route optimisation has been conducted using the capacitated vehicle routing problem method. The ship’s principal dimensions were determined using the aspect ratio from a linear regression of existing small-scale LNG vessels. As a case study, the gas demands for a gas power plant in eastern Indonesia were analysed into four distribution clusters. The results of the techno-economic analysis showed that the four distribution clusters have different characteristics regarding the LNG requirements, location characteristics and ship specifications. The capacity of small-scale LNG vessels feasible in terms of technical aspects varies from 2500, 5000, to > 10,000 m3 with variations in the ship speed depending on the location of the power plants. The amount of cargo requested and the shipping distance was affected to the cost of LNG transportation. The economic assessment proposes that the feasible investment by considering small-scale LNG cargo distribution, from the case study shows that with a ship capacity of 5000 m3 feasible margin rate is ≥ 3 USD/metric million British thermal units with an internal rate of return of 10% and estimated payback period is less than 15 years

Market orientation for sustainable performance and the inverted-U moderation of firm size: Evidence from the Greek shipping industry

Sustainability, despite being a major concern for companies, has not been studied from a market-orientation perspective. Market-oriented companies can integrate sustainability activities into their business strategies but there is a gap in our knowledge to what extend this affects firm performance This paper analyses the sustainable performance differences and provides confirmation of the market orientation to performance relationship within the transportation (shipping) sector. In an attempt to fill the literature gap we examined, by employing Stochastic DEA and hierarchical regression analysis, the moderating effects of firm size on the relationship as well as the efficiency levels of the organizations to support the sustainable use of resources. We conducted a large-scale survey of the Greek shipping industry, which directly or indirectly controls 15.42% of the total world fleet. We surveyed the total population of 2,150 shipping firms of all types (ship owning, ship management, charterers etc.) and received 703 responses from managers of 397 shipping firms, which corresponds to an 18.5% response rate. The findings show the effects of market orientation upon firm performance for shipping companies by disaggregating MO to its constituting factors, those of responsiveness, intelligence generation and dissemination. Further, we uncover the differences in the size of shipping companies on the MO-Performance (P) link. Findings indicate that there is an inverted U-shape effect of size on firm MO performance and identify where improvements are required

Vessel routing and scheduling under uncertainty in the liquefied natural gas business

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas transformed into liquid state for the purpose of transportation mainly by specially built LNG vessels. This paper considers a real-life LNG ship routing and scheduling problem where a producer is responsible for transportation from production site to customers all over the world. The aim is to create routes and schedules for the vessel fleet that are more robust with respect to uncertainty such as in sailing times due to changing weather conditions. A solution method and several robustness strategies are proposed and tested on instances with time horizons of 3–12 months. The resulting solutions are evaluated using a simulation model with a recourse optimization procedure. The results show that there is a significant improvement potential by adding the proposed robustness approaches.submittedVersio

Vessel routing and scheduling under uncertainty in the liquefied natural gas business

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas transformed into liquid state for the purpose of transportation mainly by specially built LNG vessels. This paper considers a real-life LNG ship routing and scheduling problem where a producer is responsible for transportation from production site to customers all over the world. The aim is to create routes and schedules for the vessel fleet that are more robust with respect to uncertainty such as in sailing times due to changing weather conditions. A solution method and several robustness strategies are proposed and tested on instances with time horizons of 3–12 months. The resulting solutions are evaluated using a simulation model with a recourse optimization procedure. The results show that there is a significant improvement potential by adding the proposed robustness approaches

Avaliação de políticas de suprimento de óleo diesel a unidades marítimas de exploração e produção de petróleo

Logistics operations in offshore petroleum exploration and production industry account for a high share of total operating cost. Since, it is crucial to design an efficient logistics system, both to ensure cost reduction and to avoid risks of shortage in offshore units. This work aims to compare two diesel supply policies to offshore units, based on the production scenario of an oil company operating in Brazil. From this scenario, it will then be determined which policy presents the best performance, as well as the optimal fleet size for each one. Discrete event simulation will be used to conduce this study.As operações logísticas da área de exploração e produção offshore da indústria de petróleo e gás respondem por uma alta parcela do custo operacional total. Visto isso, é essencial projetar um sistema logístico eficiente, tanto para garantir a redução dos custos como para evitar riscos de desabastecimento das unidades marítimas. Por sua vez, as unidades marítimas demandam diversos tipos de suprimento para realizarem suas atividades, entre eles o óleo diesel. Este trabalho compara duas políticas logísticas de suprimento de óleo diesel para unidades marítimas, tendo como base o cenário produtivo de uma companhia petrolífera atuante no Brasil. A partir deste cenário, será então apurada qual política apresenta melhor desempenho, assim como o dimensionamento ideal da frota para cada uma. Para realizar este estudo será utilizada a ferramenta de simulação a eventos discretos