Empty container management with the vehicle routing problem on foldable containers in hinterland transport

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24510218
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social systems engineering/Safety system
• Research Institution: Tokai University (2013-2014); Oshima National College of Maritime Technology (2012)
• Principal Investigator: SHINTANI Koichi 東海大学, 海洋学部, 准教授 (60290798)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): AKIO Imai 神戸大学, 大学院海事科学研究科, 教授 (40160022) ; YOSHIAKI Ishihara 大島商船高等専門学校, 情報工学科, 教授 (60232336)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 折りたたみコンテナ / 空コンテナの回送 / 国際コンテナ輸送

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study analyzes the impact of foldable containers on cost savings in empty container relocation over the hinterland transport of seaports. Folding empty containers to be bundled in one trip offers opportunities to save distribution costs in container drayage in the hinterland. We model empty container relocation by trucks as a vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery to optimize the number and the trip distance of trucks. Numerical experiments are carried out with serious empty container repositioning scenarios that are caused by extreme imbalanced trades. The study finds that foldable containers can significantly reduce the number and the trip distance of trucks compared to standard containers and hence will result in substantial cost savings.

Free Research Field

ロジスティクス