Study On The Transportation Network For River-sea Coordinated Transport Of Pearl River System

This paper studies the transportation network for river-sea coordinated transport of Pearl River system. According to the characteristics that the freight source places are widespread while the destination places are relatively centralized and that the cargos need to be transshipped through a couple of ports, the paper sets up a multistage transportation network which contains the receiving ports and the transit ports. The key issue of this paper is to determine the reasonable ports of each route and the optimal ship size for each leg of voyage, based on the approach that integrates the network design with the operation control.Firstly, the paper gives a general presentation of the natural conditions and the transportation development of the Pearl River system, coming to the conclusion that the Pearl River system, which owns high quality waterways, is blessed with abundant natural resources, and that the transportation and production system has been initially established. On the other hand, however, it also faces many problems such as the underdevelopment feeder lines, the unbalanced distribution of ports, the unreasonable deployment of ship etc. Such problems are expected to be solved in the process of constructing the transportation network for the river-sea coordinated transport.Based on the general overview of the Pearl River system, the paper studies further on the influence factors of the transportation network for the river-sea coordinated transport of Pearl River system. It is addressed from four aspects:Freight demand, port construction, waterway conditions and the ship deployment. Each factor is particularly discussed about the interaction process and the impact on the transportation network for the river-sea coordinated transport. Finally the freight volume and the ship size are selected as the decision variables.According to the problem description, the river-sea coordinated transport of Pearl River system is divided into three Phases:the inland transport, the river transport and the marine transport, thus converting into a multistage transportation network problem. By adding a set of virtual ports, as well as taking into consideration the constraint conditions from the waterways and the ports, the transportation network model for the river-sea coordinated transport of Pearl River system is established, with the objection function of minimum transport expense. Data test shows that this model is both economical and practical.The minimum-cost model set up in this paper takes into account the whole process of cargo transportation from the source places to the destination places, which finally brings about the selection of receiving ports and the transit ports, the optimizations of ship size and the allocations of the cargo volume. The paper aims to provide some valuable reference instructions and judgment bases for relative policy-maker.