A multi-scenario model for empty container repositioning with uncertain demand

Massimo Di Francesco, Michela Lai and Paola Zuddas

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2014, vol. 19, issue 2, 212-228

Abstract: This paper investigates the maritime repositioning of empty containers when their demand is uncertain. It involves moving empty containers from import-dominant ports to export-dominant ports in anticipation of future demands. In order to consider demand uncertainty, the problem is addressed by a stochastic programming approach, in which different scenarios are included in a multi-scenario optimisation model and explicitly linked by non-anticipativity conditions. Numerical experiments are carried out to show which benefits are obtained by multi-scenario solutions with respect to their deterministic counterparts, which consider only one point forecast for each uncertain parameter.

Keywords: maritime transport services; operations management; scenarios; empty container repositioning; optimisation modelling; stochastic programming; empty containers; uncertain demand; ports; shipping containers; demand uncertainty. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=65333 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijsoma:v:19:y:2014:i:2:p:212-228

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Services and Operations Management from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().