Empty Container Assignment Problem Based on Stochastic Dynamic Programming Approach

摘要：

The paper tackles the empty container assignment problem in a three-echelon container shipping service chain, which includes one upstream rental company, one carrier, one forwarder and the spot market. A flexible contract with options is introduced into the multi-period container planning mechanism. Options give carrier the right, but not the obligation, to increase initial orders at a premium (options exercise quantity and price). With the flexible options contract, the carrier is able to pool the risks associated with demand uncertainty in one service cycle. In particular, we extend the empty container assignment problem with the downstream spot market to improve the application value of the model. The empty container assignment problem can be divided into two stages; the empty container capacity planning stage and the allocation stage. At stage 1, the carrier optimizes the whole empty container capacity in one service cycle; at stage 2, the empty containers are allocated in multi-periods for the forwarder and the spot market, where the empty container allocation problem is modeled as a stochastic dynamic problem.

关键词： container leasing options stochastic dynamic programming multi-period

作者: Cong Liu Zhibin Jiang Na Geng Bin Xiao Feng Meng

作者单位: Sino-US Global Logistics Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China Department of Industrial Engineering & Logistics Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

会议类型: 国际会议

会议名称: The Institute Industrial Engineera Asian Conference 2011(2011年国际工业工程师协会亚洲会议)

会议地点: 上海

会议语种:英文

页码: 124-131

在线出版日期: 2011-06-10（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）