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Stowage planning for container ships: A heuristic algorithm to reduce the number of shifts

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  • Ding, Ding
  • Chou, Mabel C.

Abstract

We consider the stowage planning problem of a container ship, where the ship visits a series of ports sequentially and containers can only be accessed from the top of the stacks. At some ports, certain containers will be unloaded temporarily and will be loaded back later for various purposes. Such unproductive movements of containers are called shifts, which are both time and money consuming. Literature shows that binary linear programming formulation for such problems is impracticable for real life problems due to the large number of binary variables and constraints. Therefore, we develop a heuristic algorithm which can generate stowage plans with a reasonable number of shifts for such problems. The algorithm, verified by extensive computational experimentations, performs better than the Suspensory Heuristic Procedure (SH algorithm) proposed in Avriel et al. (1998), which, to the best of our knowledge, is one of the leading heuristic algorithms for such stowage planning problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Ding, Ding & Chou, Mabel C., 2015. "Stowage planning for container ships: A heuristic algorithm to reduce the number of shifts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 246(1), pages 242-249.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:246:y:2015:i:1:p:242-249
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2015.03.044
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mordecai Avriel & Michal Penn & Naomi Shpirer & Smadar Witteboon, 1998. "Stowage planning for container ships to reduce the number of shifts," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 76(0), pages 55-71, January.
    2. Delgado, Alberto & Jensen, Rune Møller & Janstrup, Kira & Rose, Trine Høyer & Andersen, Kent Høj, 2012. "A Constraint Programming model for fast optimal stowage of container vessel bays," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 220(1), pages 251-261.
    3. I D Wilson & P A Roach, 2000. "Container stowage planning: a methodology for generating computerised solutions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 51(11), pages 1248-1255, November.
    4. Sciomachen, Anna & Tanfani, Elena, 2007. "A 3D-BPP approach for optimising stowage plans and terminal productivity," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(3), pages 1433-1446, December.
    5. Daniela Ambrosino & Davide Anghinolfi & Massimo Paolucci & Anna Sciomachen, 2009. "A new three-step heuristic for the Master Bay Plan Problem," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 11(1), pages 98-120, March.
    6. Ambrosino, Daniela & Sciomachen, Anna & Tanfani, Elena, 2004. "Stowing a containership: the master bay plan problem," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 81-99, February.
    7. J-G Kang & Y-D Kim, 2002. "Stowage planning in maritime container transportation," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 53(4), pages 415-426, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chaemin Lee & Mun Keong Lee & Jae Young Shin, 2020. "Lashing Force Prediction Model with Multimodal Deep Learning and AutoML for Stowage Planning Automation in Containerships," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. R. Roberti & D. Pacino, 2018. "A Decomposition Method for Finding Optimal Container Stowage Plans," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 1444-1462, December.
    3. Shih-Liang Chao & Pi-Hung Lin, 2021. "Minimizing overstowage in master bay plans of large container ships," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(1), pages 71-93, March.
    4. Zhang, Daihui & Qu, Zhuohau & Wang, Wenxin & Yu, Jiagen & Yang, Zaili, 2020. "New uncertainty modelling for cargo stowage plans of general cargo ships," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Byung Kwon Lee & Joyce M. W. Low, 2022. "A constraint programming approach to capacity planning in container vessels," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 24(2), pages 415-438, June.
    6. Qinghe Sun & Li Chen & Mabel C. Chou & Qiang Meng, 2023. "Mitigating the financial risk behind emission cap compliance: A case in maritime transportation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(1), pages 283-300, January.
    7. Parreño, Francisco & Pacino, Dario & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon, 2016. "A GRASP algorithm for the container stowage slot planning problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 141-157.
    8. Li Wang & Xiaoning Zhu, 2019. "Container Loading Optimization in Rail–Truck Intermodal Terminals Considering Energy Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, April.
    9. Kong, Lingrui & Ji, Mingjun & Gao, Zhendi, 2021. "Joint optimization of container slot planning and truck scheduling for tandem quay cranes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(1), pages 149-166.
    10. Chien-Chang Chou & Pao-Yi Fang, 2021. "Applying expert knowledge to containership stowage planning: an empirical study," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(1), pages 4-27, March.
    11. Rune Larsen & Dario Pacino, 2021. "A heuristic and a benchmark for the stowage planning problem," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(1), pages 94-122, March.
    12. Jone R. Hansen & Kjetil Fagerholt & Magnus Stålhane & Jørgen G. Rakke, 2020. "An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the planar storage location assignment problem: application to stowage planning for Roll-on Roll-off ships," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 885-912, December.
    13. Filom, Siyavash & Amiri, Amir M. & Razavi, Saiedeh, 2022. "Applications of machine learning methods in port operations – A systematic literature review," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    14. Huiling Zhu, 2022. "Integrated Containership Stowage Planning: A Methodology for Coordinating Containership Stowage Plan and Terminal Yard Operations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.
    15. Fazi, Stefano, 2019. "A decision-support framework for the stowage of maritime containers in inland shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 1-23.
    16. Buddhi A. Weerasinghe & H. Niles Perera & Xiwen Bai, 2024. "Optimizing container terminal operations: a systematic review of operations research applications," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 26(2), pages 307-341, June.
    17. Daniela Ambrosino & Anna Sciomachen, 2021. "A shipping line stowage-planning procedure in the presence of hazardous containers," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(1), pages 49-70, March.
    18. Turkay Yildiz, 2019. "Design and Analysis of a Lightweight Composite Shipping Container Made of Carbon Fiber Laminates," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20, July.
    19. Gao, Yinping & Zhen, Lu, 2024. "A decision framework for decomposed stowage planning for containers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    20. Christensen, Jonas & Erera, Alan & Pacino, Dario, 2019. "A rolling horizon heuristic for the stochastic cargo mix problem," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 200-220.
    21. van Twiller, Jaike & Sivertsen, Agnieszka & Pacino, Dario & Jensen, Rune Møller, 2024. "Literature survey on the container stowage planning problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 317(3), pages 841-857.
    22. Sun, Qinghe & Meng, Qiang & Chou, Mabel C., 2021. "Optimizing voyage charterparty (VCP) arrangement: Laytime negotiation and operations coordination," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(1), pages 263-270.
    23. Dalia Rashed & Amr Eltawil & Mohamed Gheith, 2021. "A Fuzzy Logic-Based Algorithm to Solve the Slot Planning Problem in Container Vessels," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-24, September.
    24. Christensen, Jonas & Pacino, Dario, 2017. "A matheuristic for the Cargo Mix Problem with Block Stowage," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 151-171.
    25. Shih-Liang Chao & Pi-Hung Lin, 0. "Minimizing overstowage in master bay plans of large container ships," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 0, pages 1-23.

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