Optimization of Fleet Composition and Vessels Routing for a Bauxite Supply Company

Peng Jiawen

Abstract

The vessel planning problem is a maritime transportation problem faced by a bauxite shipping company. There are many shipping service businesses for various ports around the world with different amount of supply or demand. In the meanwhile, the shipping company’s fleet contains various types of vessels with different cost and different capacity. And there are many other operation constraints like: the number of available vessels is limited and etc. Even more, there are constantly changing circumstances, due to businesses changing. The objectives of this study are to analyse the shipping routes, to identify the shipping cost for various types of vessels, to figure out the optimal fleet composition and routing of vessels with the lowest cost, and able to help the company analyzing the complicated bauxite shipping problem under different circumstances. This paper presents a voyage-based solution method for the vessels planning problem; and solve the optimal solution by applying Lingo model. A computational study shows how the method can be used to solve real-life problems. The tool was recommended to company for helping future decision making and cost saving.