Modelling of containerized air cargo forwarding problems under uncertainty
Modelling of containerized air cargo forwarding problems under uncertainty
This paper examines air container renting and cargo loading problems experienced by freight forwarding companies. Containers have to be booked in advance, in order to obtain discounted rental rates from airlines; renting or returning containers on the day of shipping will incur a heavy penalty. We first propose a mixed-integer model for the certain problem, in which shipment information is known with certainty, when booking. We then present a two-stage recourse model to handle the uncertainty problem, in which accurate shipment information cannot be obtained when booking, and all cargoes have to be shipped without delay. The first-stage decision is made at the booking stage, to book specific numbers of different types of containers. The second-stage decision is made on the day of shipping, depending on the extent to which the uncertainty has been realized. The decisions include number of additional containers of different types that are required to be rented, or the number of containers to be returned, under the scenario that might occur on the day of shipping. We then extend the recourse model into a robust model for dealing with the situation in which cargoes are allowed to be shipped later. The robust model provides a quantitative method to measure the trade-off between risk and cost. A series of experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the robust model in dealing with risk and uncertainty.
air container, cargo forwarding, containerization, globalization, robust optimization, stochastic programming
1211-1226
Wu, Y.
e279101b-b392-45c4-b894-187e2ded6a5c
7 July 2011
Wu, Y.
e279101b-b392-45c4-b894-187e2ded6a5c
Wu, Y.
(2011)
Modelling of containerized air cargo forwarding problems under uncertainty.
Journal of the Operational Research Society, 62 (7), .
(doi:10.1057/jors.2010.84).
Abstract
This paper examines air container renting and cargo loading problems experienced by freight forwarding companies. Containers have to be booked in advance, in order to obtain discounted rental rates from airlines; renting or returning containers on the day of shipping will incur a heavy penalty. We first propose a mixed-integer model for the certain problem, in which shipment information is known with certainty, when booking. We then present a two-stage recourse model to handle the uncertainty problem, in which accurate shipment information cannot be obtained when booking, and all cargoes have to be shipped without delay. The first-stage decision is made at the booking stage, to book specific numbers of different types of containers. The second-stage decision is made on the day of shipping, depending on the extent to which the uncertainty has been realized. The decisions include number of additional containers of different types that are required to be rented, or the number of containers to be returned, under the scenario that might occur on the day of shipping. We then extend the recourse model into a robust model for dealing with the situation in which cargoes are allowed to be shipped later. The robust model provides a quantitative method to measure the trade-off between risk and cost. A series of experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the robust model in dealing with risk and uncertainty.
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Published date: 7 July 2011
Keywords:
air container, cargo forwarding, containerization, globalization, robust optimization, stochastic programming
Organisations:
Management
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 51373
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/51373
ISSN: 0160-5682
PURE UUID: 3530da92-7e56-4a44-99e3-252920e2425c
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Date deposited: 23 Jun 2008
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:39
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