An optimization model for container inventory management

This paper formulates the empty container repositioning (ECR) problem, which is one of the most important issues in the container shipping industry, by running a model to generate the service route of feeder shipping in a dynamic environment. The objective is to reduce the disequilibrium of laden and empty containers. This paper first provides a literature review with the emphasis on the shipping scheduling and modelling of ECR. Second, a network model has been designed to find the optimum size of ship servicing a particular region. A simply ECR policy is tested to demonstrate an essential impact on the profit of a container transport system. With the aid of this heuristic shipping model, ECR is integrated with the tramp ship routing problem under dynamic condition.