Multiple Periods Minimal Cost Programming Optimization Model for Empty Containers Repositioning with Stock Level
- Resource Type
- Article
Text
- Authors
- Lihua Lu; Hengzhen Zhang; Xiaofeng Wang; Xiao-Zhi Gao
- Source
- International Journal of Hybrid Information Technology, 08/30/2016, Vol. 9, Issue 8, p. 265-276
- Subject
- Empty container repositioning
multiple periods
minimal cost model
stock
- Language
- 영어(ENG)
- ISSN
- 1738-9968
The main problem of empty containers repositioning (ECR) is to dispatch the empty containers among the ports meanwhile cut the costs as possible as. According to the actual operations, the stock policy and various constrains are considered together in this paper firstly. Then we build a multiple periods minimal cost programming optimization model with stock to solve this problem. Furthermore, we adopt the heuristic rule to effectively operate the empty containers since there is a large amount of calculation. Finally, some simulate data are given to assess the model. The results show that our proposed model is feasible and efficient to minimize the operation cost as well as satisfy the demand of customers. Moreover by analyzing the data it can guide us to set the inventory of empty containers of ports in different supply and demand scenarios.