Detention decisions for empty containers in the hinterland transportation system

With the global container population exceeding 25 million TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) and the annual production of new boxes exceeding 3 million TEU it is estimated that around 1.5 million TEU of empty containers are sitting in yards and depots around the world waiting for use. Although utilization rates have improved since 2004, container utilization depends on the very dynamic nature of container transportation, and the container building and leasing industries. Owing primarily to the chronic trend of increasing trade imbalances across the oceans, and despite recent trends along some trade routes, the empty container management problem has become a major issue for the container shipping industry during the last decade. This paper examines and analyzes empty container logistics at a global, interregional, regional and local level. Special consideration is given to key factors affecting the empty container logistics management and strategies implemented by ocean carriers and other stakeholders to better manage empty containers.

In recent decades, the rapid development of international economy has led to significant inter-regional trade imbalances. In marine transportation, the voluminous empty containers accumulated at ports in import dominated countries have to be re-circulated back to ports in export dominated countries for re-deployment. This repositioning of empty containers is crucial for shipping companies to provide effective transportation services. At present, empty container repositioning has proved to be highly expensive, contributing to 27% of the overall operation cost of shipping companies. Consequently, major stakeholders including the shipping companies have strived to reduce the repositioning cost. Unfortunately, few major improvements have been made over the years and there are still lingering research issues. The objective of this research, therefore, is to develop efficient and effective methodologies to obtain empty container repositioning plans that can significantly reduce transportation cost while fulfilling customer demands of empty and laden containers.
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\nIn this research, the empty container repositioning problem under two related real marine transportation scenarios has been studied. The first scenario considers multi-vessel transportation for both laden and empty containers with split vessel routing (denoted as ECRSVR). A mathematical model of ECRSVR is developed based on the formulation of the Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows (PDPTW). However, a major research issue arises due to such integrated consideration of split vessel routing and transportation of empty and laden containers. The resulting model will encompass many more new decision variables and constraints. Thus, it cannot be readily solved by existing algorithms. To address this issue, a new Branch-and-Price (B&P) algorithm incorporating B&B and column generation is developed. Specifically, a new dynamic programming algorithm with new label structure and dominance rules is established to solve the pricing problem in B&P, and a new multi-layer branching scheme is developed for implementing the algorithm. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed methodology are then tested on a set of randomly generated problems.
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\nThe second scenario extends the first by including transshipment activities in the ECRSVR (denoted as ECRSVRTS). Apparently, the inclusion of transshipment activities will significantly increase the size of the solution space of feasible routing and distribution schemes. Also, more constraints have to be included in the model to account for the interdependence between the distribution schemes of separate vessels. To tackle this problem, two mathematical models are developed. The first is a port-based model that explicitly characterizes the routing plans and distribution volumes for each vessel at each time interval as decision variables. The resulting integer program is non-linear and difficult to solve. Therefore, an equivalent event-driven node-based model inspired by the formulation of PDPTW is constructed. In this model, the pickup/delivery tasks and transshipment events are represented as nodes in a generated topology. The B&P scheme is then modified to solve the node-based model and a Hybrid Scatter Tabu Search (HSTS) is developed to solve the pricing problems. Results obtained from the numerical experiments using randomly generated test problems show that the proposed HSTS algorithm outperforms conventional scatter search and tabu search algorithms.

The routing of empty containers is an unavoidable activity of the intermodal chain. In fact, import containers that arrive at a national port are sent toward a multiplicity of interior destinations. Then the empty containers must return to a port to accomplish an export voyage. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the organizational choice of ocean carriers to reposition their empty containers in the USA. Ocean carriers have four options to relocate their empty containers: the spot organization and the adoption of three different renewable contracts to frame the externalization. How do ocean carriers choose their organization form to relocate their empty containers?

Integrated strategic and operational planning of dry port container networks in a stochastic environment

<p>Purpose – The storage and supply of empty containers is a bottleneck in the global supply chain. In the wake of increasing containerisation and globalisation, improving efficiencies of processing within empty container depots can realise efficiencies. The overall objective of this research project is to propose an efficient and effective solution for reducing waste in an empty container depot using a crane. The issue of applying gantry cranes to empty container depots will cover both an operational and a strategic evaluation of the following research questions: 1) What are the potential solutions for a specific yard based on lean thinking, and which solution should be used within the constraints and contexts of this yard? 2) Who are the key stakeholders, and what are their stakes while implementing the solution in the yard to reduce waste? Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature around empty container depots revealed that while lean operations have been applied to manufacturing, warehousing, and ports, it has not yet been applied to empty container depots. Whereas warehouses primarily deal with stock-holding and ports deal with quayside operations, empty container depots act as a conduit between consignors and consignees. In the vein of American Pragmatism, Design Science Research, and Strategy-as-Practice, this thesis shows that in the context of empty container depots a gantry crane is an artefact that can create efficiencies, reduce costs, as well as explore further effects on the organisation and its wider geo-political habitus. Case Study – A New Zealand company that handles roughly half a million TEUs per annum cooperated with this study. The study was conducted by analysing data from four working depots (Auckland, Tauranga, Napier) selected to illustrate variations in container volumes, types of flows (imports, exports, seasonality), and depot layouts. The current operations of these depots were analysed using lean operations, value stream mapping, and operations interwork centre flow graphs. Of the four sites identified, one (the Auckland OCP site) was shown to achieve the greatest results from a gantry crane. The results of the analysis were then used to develop a potential solution in which waste was identified and eliminated, primarily around excess handling and land utilisation. Findings – A key finding was that efficiency gains differ from site to site based on their unique demands and overall layouts. Furthermore, changes towards the current yard using gantry cranes need to be implemented incrementally based on continuous improvement. This is due to practical constraints around operations, culture change, cashflow management, the acquisition of capital, and broader market/stakeholder influences. Originality/value – The practical applications of this research case are scalable on a vast level. The effects of this research are explored in how the introduction of an artefact affects the organisation, its vision of itself, its strategies, and the broader supply chain in which this organisation operates. The results are further re-contextualisted in order to offer a holistic view of an artefact in its situated environment.</p>

Major ports contain multiple container terminals, sea terminals, train, truck and barge terminal, and empty container depots, operated by different companies. Port authorities try to streamline inter terminal container transport (ITT) within congested port areas by offering expensive common road and rail infrastructure. Alternatively, individual stakeholders can set up private or collaborative container transport systems. This paper develops a framework to analyse and determine feasibility conditions of a common ITT system in a port area, depending on total transport volumes. First, we develop a simulation model to evaluate the costs of transporting containers using different modes of transport including trucks, automated guided vehicles, and multi trailer systems. Next, the required number of vehicles per mode is determined for a given throughput and waiting time. The results of the simulation are used in a game-theoretic setting to determine the cost savings per stakeholder operating in a coalition. By comparing cost savings for all possible coalitions, it is possible to determine, for each stakeholder, the attractiveness of using a common system. We find the coalitions that result in the highest savings and compare them with the infrastructure cost required to realise them. We apply the method to determine the feasibility of a common ITT system for terminals in the Port of Rotterdam and show that it only pays off in case of high demand for container transports.

International trade imbalances make the management of empty containers within shipping networks an important economic and ecological problem. While import-dominated ports accumulate large amounts of empty containers, export-dominated ports need them as transport resources, requiring a repositioning transportation of empty containers on the sea and land side. Acknowledging the importance of the problem, plenty of respective literature has appeared. Since periodic review inventory management systems allow to model the inherent stochasticity of empty container transportation, they have emerged as a major solution approach in the domain. Nevertheless, existing approaches often omit crucial economic and ecological real world conditions determining the success of empty container management. Pollution, repair options, and street-turns are important aspects in this context. In this work, we present new stochastic review policies incorporating a realistic allocation scheme for empty container emissions, realistic maintenance, and repair options as well as street-turns. We analyze the optimality of the proposed polices and evaluate them in a simulation model with metaheuristic parameter search based on extensive real-world data from a major global shipping company operating in Latin America. Results provide insights for academics and practitioners about the economic and ecological impact of the distinct empty container management polices within a shipping network.

The empty container management is one of the most popular problems in shipping. The container repositioning is very expensive and shippers cannot generate profit with it, so it is very important for shippers to have an efficient container management. This paper discusses the problem of repositioning empty containers in a cheap way and it shows up a possible optimization for the problem. First, the paper introduces the subject of the empty container management. This section is followed by a problem description and a modified Inland Empty Container Depot (IDEC) model based on Mittal, which solves the container problem. Afterwards, there is a description of the further modification of the model for the empty container management problem in hinterland, which is based on the modified IDEC. This model additionally considers the container transportation by barge and train, while the IDEC only uses the truck. In the last chapter of the paper, some possible results are presented.

The literature indicates that a 20% reduction in the weight of empty 40-foot shipping containers would result in $28 billion of fuel savings, along with a 3.6 exajoule reduction in the energy demand over containers’ 15-year lifetime. Decreasing the energy demand and thereby greenhouse gas emissions by utilizing lightweight shipping containers has been an unexplored strategy. In this regard, this study investigates the possibility of further reducing the weight of an empty container without compromising the structural integrity, strength, and function of a traditional steel container. This research finds that up to an 80% reduction in weight is possible by producing shipping containers with composite materials. This research presents the new design of a 40-foot container made of carbon fiber laminates. The tare weight of a traditional 40-foot shipping container is around 3750 kg. On the contrary, in this research, the weight of a composite design of the same container is calculated to be around 822 kg. Additional tests with various loads, such as lifting the container and stacking loads onto the composite container, are performed to explore the strength and buckling issues of the design presented in this study. The analyses reveal that the composite shipping container is a highly promising candidate for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, providing fuel savings and thus reducing the operational costs of transportation.

A Neighborhood Search for a Multi-size Container Transportation Problem

Container depot provides various services to support the containerization industry such as empty container storage, maintenance and repairing (M & R), on-hiring and off-hiring of containers for shipping liners’. Empty container and ex-laden container will be repair and clean based on their condition before storage and releasing to exporter. Empty containers are arranged by container shipping liners by appointing hauliers’ to repositioning these containers from seaport container terminal yard to on dock (within the port area but outside container terminal yard) and container depot.

In ocean transportation, contractual and operational relationships may be asynchronous. A case in point is the relationship between a customer requiring inbound container storage and a container terminal operator. The customer may store inbound containers in a container terminal and will pay the ocean carrier a specific storage fee, without establishing any contractual relationship with the terminal operator. After collecting the storage fee, the ocean carrier will then pay the container terminal operator for the storage of the inbound container. In this article, we study two-level inbound container storage pricing problems involving a container terminal operator and an ocean carrier in two different inbound container storage contract systems: the free-time contract system and the free-space contract system. In each contract system, we propose a two-stage pricing game model. We derive the optimal decisions for the container terminal operator and the ocean carrier. Analysis about the coordination of the two kinds of contract system is also provided. Numerical studies are conducted to compare the outcomes of the two systems for the ocean carrier and the container terminal. The results of computational experiments reveal that the free-space contract system is a preferable strategy for busy container terminals in terms of traffic control.

Background. The article provides an overview of the current state of the railway container transportation market. Statistical data on the container transportation market is presented and analyzed. The article provides an overview of the work aimed at improving the organization of container transportation by rail. A generalized scheme of container delivery using rail transport is developed. The key objectives aimed at ensuring the reliability of container delivery are identified, and the main factors affecting the speed of container delivery are systematized. A mathematical expression of the delivery time of a container for the conditions of a direct option of transshipment from one mode of transport to another and taking into account the processing and storage of cargo at the terminal. Formulated the problem of optimizing the delivery scheme of containers in multimodal transportation in the conditions of the presence of several options of container terminals, their location. At the same time, according to the conditions of the formulated task, one processing of containers at the terminal is provided. A decision support system for changing the method of transportation of container products in multimodal transportation is proposed. Conclusions are drawn about the prospects of using the proposed system by transport and logistics companies. The purpose is to identify options for ensuring the flow and uninterrupted movement of container flows during multimodal transportation. Methodology. The article used an analysis of the current situation in the field of container transportation, mathematical modeling of container delivery time, optimization of the container delivery scheme based on the decision to overload the container at each terminal, and formulated a decision support system for delivery management. Results. The state of container transportation involving rail transport is determined, the analysis of studies in the field of container transportation using rail transport is performed, the directions of ensuring the reliability of container delivery are identified. A decision support system for multimodal container transportation is proposed. Practical implications. The results obtained can be used in the railway container transportation system, as well as by freight forwarding, operator, and transport and logistics companies.

Application of a mixed fuzzy decision making and optimization programming model to the empty container allocation

World trade has grown over the last two decades and has led to increasing demand for containers. As such, container transport by truck is growing either inside or outside the port terminal. This study aims to gain expert confirmation of the clarity and practicality of the 'congestion problem model in empty container depots' through the Delphi technique. This technique is carried out in two rounds by several experts who have knowledge and experience in container management. Overall, the Delphi analysis shows that the average value exceeds 75%, proving that the model of the congestion problem chain has been approved by the panel of experts. Finally, all panel of experts has the same view regarding the development of this model that it is able to provide a clear understanding of the factors involved in congestion problems outside of the port. Therefore, this model can also serve as a guideline for stakeholders to reduce delays especially during the operation of empty container pick-up and drop-off.