An interactive optimization system for bulk-cargo ship scheduling

This article considers the efficient scheduling of a fleet of ships engaged in pickup and delivery of bulk cargoes. Our optimization system begins by generating a menu of candidate schedules for each ship. This menu can contain all feasible solutions, which guarantees we will find an optimal solution or can be heuristically limited to contain only those schedules likely to be in an optimal solution. The problem of choosing from this menu an optimal schedule for the fleet is formulated as a set-packing problem and solved with a dual algorithm. Computational experience is presented based on real data obtained from the Military Sealift Command of the U. S. Navy. Run times for this data were reasonable and solutions were generated with the potential of saving up to about $30 million per year over the manual system currently in place. We also describe a color-graphics interface developed to facilitate interaction with the optimization system.

[1]  Mandell Bellmore,et al.  A maximum utility solution to a vehicle constrained tanker scheduling problem , 1968 .

[2]  J. Laderman,et al.  Vessel allocation by linear programming , 1966 .

[3]  L. Appelgren.  Integer Programming Methods for a Vessel Scheduling Problem , 1971 .

[4]  Roy E. Marsten,et al.  Exact solution of crew scheduling problems using the set partitioning model: Recent successful applications , 1981, Networks.

[5]  Gerald G. Brown,et al.  Scheduling ocean transportation of crude oil , 1987 .

[6]  D. R. Fulkerson,et al.  MINIMIZING THE NUMBER OF CARRIERS TO MEET A FIXED SCHEDULE , 1954 .

[7]  Merrill M. Flood,et al.  Application of Transportation Theory to Scheduling a Military Tanker Fleet , 1954, Oper. Res..

[8]  Kenneth L. Stott,et al.  A MODEL-BASED DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PLANNING AND SCHEDULING OCEAN-BORNE TRANSPORTATION , 1981 .

[9]  H. O. Hartley,et al.  Computerized scheduling of seagoing tankers , 1974 .

[10]  Roger R. Crane,et al.  The Scheduling of a Barge Line , 1959 .

[11]  Lawrence Bodin,et al.  PLANNING FOR TRUCK FLEET SIZE IN THE PRESENCE OF A COMMON‐CARRIER OPTION , 1983 .

[12]  Leif H. Appelgren,et al.  A Column Generation Algorithm for a Ship Scheduling Problem , 1969 .

[13]  C. J. Pursglove,et al.  Two Approaches to Scheduling Container Ships with an Application to the North Atlantic Route , 1979 .

[14]  M. Bellmore,et al.  A Multivehicle Tanker Scheduling Problem , 1971 .

[15]  Lawrence E. Briskin.  Selecting Delivery Dates in the Tanker Scheduling Problem , 1966 .

[16]  Louis M. Dalberto,et al.  Improving the Distribution of Industrial Gases with an On-Line Computerized Routing and Scheduling Optimizer , 1983 .

[17]  George L. Nemhauser,et al.  A Problem in Bulk Service Scheduling , 1972, Oper. Res..

[18]  H. D. Ratliff,et al.  Set partitioning based heuristics for interactive routing , 1981, Networks.

[19]  L. Wolsey,et al.  On the greedy heuristic for continuous covering and packing problems , 1982 .

[20]  C. A. Olson,et al.  Medium-Range Scheduling for a Freighter Fleet , 1969, Oper. Res..