Development of a Genetic Algorithm for the Maritime Transportation Planning of Car Carriers

Many researches have been made in order to solve global logistic problems, and especially in case of maritime transportation, much more studies have been made compared with other transportation fields because of its weight in terms of international logistics. However, little study has been made on the car carrier’s transportation, due to its relatively small weight in the maritime transportation market. For this reason, this study has tried to develop an algorithm for the maritime transportation planning of car carriers, so that they can not only reduce logistics costs but also improve competitiveness. Car carriers are usually depending upon manual work, and concerning the routing of car carriers, however, many changes are frequently taking place in the car production schedule and ship’s arrival schedule. Because of this, this study has developed a genetic algorithm for car carrier’s routing so as to make an optimal transportation planning with minimum costs. The genetic algorithm in this study has been compared with the solution results of integer programming in an effort to test its performance.