Ferry service network design: optimal fleet size, routing, and scheduling

dThe study formulated a ferry network design problem by considering the optimal fleet size, routing, and scheduling for both direct and multi-stop services. The objective function combines both the operator and passengers' performance measures. Mathematically, the model is formulated as a mixed integer multiple origin-destination network flow problem with ferry capacity constraints. To solve this problem of practical size, this study developed a heuristic algorithm that exploits the polynomial-time performance of shortest path algorithms. Two scenarios of ferry services in Hong Kong were solved to demonstrate the performance of the heuristic algorithm. The results showed that the heuristic produced solutions that were within 1.3% from the CPLEX optimal solutions. The computational time is within tens of seconds even for problem size that is beyond the capability of CPLEX. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.