Hub Location Problem Of Hub-and-spoke Network Of Liner Shipping Service With Congestion And Environmental Cost

With the rapid trend of developing large-scale container ship, theevolvement of maritime network of container shipping is developingtowards hub-and-spoke network model. For considerations on cleanshipping and frequent occurrence of port congestion, a hub-and-spokenetwork based on congestion and environmental cost is studied in thethesis.For the congestion related cost, based on reasonable assumptions,the time characteristic of congestion is presented exponentially and acongestion cost function associated with node traffic in the network isintroduced. For environmental cost, the thesis draws on a commonpractice at home and abroad to impose environmental taxes of pollutantsemitted by marine activities, covering nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides andcarbon dioxide. Tax rates are determined according to the existingliteratures.A single allocation nonlinear hub-and-spoke network model is thenestablished on a systematic point of view. The model takes intoconsideration not only the flow volume at a certain node in the networkbut also the subsequent additional economic cost that is brought about bythe utilization of economies of scale on inter-hub links. Distribution offlow based on optimized location of hub ports, which guarantees thenormal transportation between each origin-destination node pair, isbalanced to ensure that a minimum generalized total cost can be obtained.Finally, the principle of Lagrange relaxation algorithm and evaluationprinciples of results of numerical calculation are introduced. The exampleshows that the results are consistent with the basic pattern of the shippingnetwork and the model can play the role in dispersing cargo flows and reducing congestion.This thesis is only the preliminary application of hub-and-spoketheory in the aspect of maritime shipping, which can provide a theoreticalreference for future study. The practice of environmental cost ispreconscious and has practical significance.