Two-Phase Optimization Models for Liner Shipping Network Based on Hub Ports Cooperation: From the Perspective of Supply-Side Reform in China

From the perspective of supply-side reform in China, it is hard for COSCO Shipping, a merged company with a strong shipping capacity, to abandon the container shipping market. Meanwhile, the new company could cooperate with new strategic ports along the Maritime Silk Road in liner service. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to optimize the liner shipping network (LSN) from strategic, tactical, and operational levels and help the merged shipping company adjust its operational measures according to market changes. The optimization towards different levels of decision-making process is a new research of highly practical values. Specifically, this paper created two-phase optimization models for LSN based on the selection of hub ports. In Network Assessment (NA) phase, the LSNs of two types of hub ports selected are designed and assessed on strategic and tactical levels, and the primary and secondary routes are identified; in Network Operation (NO) phase, the “path-based flow” formulations are proposed from the operational level, considering operational measures including demand rejection and flow integration. The models in both phases are mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), but are solved by different tools: CPLEX for the NA phase models and the Genetic Algorithm (GA) for the NO phase models due to the computational complexity of the latter problem. Then, a computational experiment is performed on the LSN of COSCO Shipping on the Persian Gulf trade lane. The results have proved the effectiveness of the methodology and inspired important countermeasures for the merged shipping company.

The role of the Russian government in the development of Caspian Sea trade with Persia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century

This article based on a large body of published and unpublished documents from the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Empire (AVPRI). The author analyzes the policy of the tsarist government regarding the development of merchant shipping on the Caspian Sea, and determines its eff ectiveness in the framework of Russian-Persian economic ties in the second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries. Special attention is paid to the public discourse on the need for borrowing the Western European model for the development of maritime navigation, as well as to the conditions of navigation in the Caspian area in accordance with the natural characteristics and the available port facilities. Also examined are the volume of trade between Russia and Persia, the activities of Russian shipping enterprises, their interaction among themselves, and the state’s intervention in these aff airs. The author concludes that the government´s policy yielded ambiguous results. After pushing for the introduction of steamboats and Liner Service on the Caspian Sea, the tsarist government decided to support only one transport company, the ‘Kavkaz i Merkuriy’, which then swallowed its competitors. Ultimately, the authorities’ investment strategy led to the monopoly and domination of one company, which played a negative role in the development of merchant shipping on the Caspian Sea.

The Application of Information Technologies for the Development of the Arab Bridge Maritime Company Maritime Transport Operations

The Arab Bridge Maritime Company suffers seasonal trailers congestions on its liner service across the Gulf of Aqaba due to several problems, this research focuses on identifying the trailers congestions problems, constraints, and business challenges affecting the efficiency of the maritime and land transport operation on the overall transportation chain of supply for the company and carry out the necessary reengineering process on the day to day operations processes for a better ships efficient operation, smooth flow of trailers, and better customer satisfaction by utilizing three information technologies, the LRIT, RFID and SMS, taking into consideration the business environment, i.e. limited city and port infrastructure, seasonal increase in trailers movement, available technologies in the market and ABM ships capacity.