Abstract
Advanced technologies are expected to drive practical applications that can reduce transportation and storage costs via novel space-saving foldable containers. To use them efficiently, shipping companies need a systematic algorithm that will simultaneously reposition foldable containers along with standard ones currently in use. Moreover, ports with facilities for folding and unfolding containers must be selected. To address these issues, we have developed a mathematical model for repositioning both standard and foldable empty containers. We use the model to minimize total transportation costs, inventory holding, handling, folding and unfolding, container leasing, and installing facilities that accommodate foldable containers. In addition to the mathematical model, we develop linear programming-based and hybrid genetic algorithms to obtain satisfactory solutions for these complex problems within reasonable computation times. We conduct several experiments to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods and analyze their sensitivities to the cost parameters related to foldable containers.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the useful comments from the guest editor and two anonymous referees. This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0025714).
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Moon, I., Hong, H. Repositioning of empty containers using both standard and foldable containers. Marit Econ Logist 18, 61–77 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/mel.2015.18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/mel.2015.18