A mixed method for determination of cut-off dates in liner shipping

Operating with fixed schedules requires coordinating and cooperating with many actors in liner shipping. Therefore, liner operators announce predetermined cut-off dates for each voyage for Sippers to perform cargo-related transactions and send their documents. The shippers complain that the cut-off times are primarily for the operator’s benefit and create a very tight time. However, the operators have trouble that the shippers cannot fulfill the necessary instructions and documents on time. From this point of view, this study aims to offer optimized cut-off determination for liner services and employs a mixed-method approach to evaluate the cut-off process of liner operators. Firstly, a qualitative study was conducted to obtain factors affecting cut-off date determination. Second, the factors affecting cut-off dates were analyzed with the fuzzy Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) method. Third, a step-by-step shipping process from booking to the vessel’s departure was developed. Moreover, the simulation method was applied with actual data to offer alternative schedules for a liner operator for its two liner services. The results show that even using only the two strongest driving factors determined in the TISM process (TEU capacity of the vessel and number of port calls) improves the cut-off determination simulation performance results by 20%.