Study On Coastal Container Feeder Network Optimization

Under the action of increase of global trade, the liner shipping industry grows rapidly. The large-style trend of ships and the functional differentiation of container ports have become increasingly obvious. Meanwhile, the hub ports and feeder ones are separated gradually. All these affect the evolution of maritime transport network. As an essential component of the liner shipping network, the container feeder network is important support to the hub ports and the main routes, and also an important guarantee for the main container transport network. The optimization of container feeder network, reduction of feeder operation cost and enhancing the market competition are emphasized by the liner enterprises. This paper studies on the coastal container feeder network optimization and tries to offer some feasible theory for the rational design of coastal container feeder network.Based on careful analysis of the research in and abroad, this paper gives a expansion to the existing liner shipping network planning, proposes a basic theory of coastal container feeder network and classifies the coastal feeder network optimization problems. Then a mixed integer programming model is established from the view of cost optimization with the capacity, volume, networks, and time constraints, and the Particle Swarm Optimization is used to gain the minimum cost of the network. Finally, taking feeder container company A in the Bohai Bay as an example, the optimization method given is used to calculate a more reasonable container feeder network of company A in the Bohai Bay. The results show the great operation cost induction of company A by optimization, and the optimization method proposed in this paper can be used to determine optimal feeder routes and the real number code used for 2N dimension space can solve this problem effectively.