Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships
Container liner shipping companies operate within a complex environment where they must balance profitability and service reliability. Meanwhile, evolving regulatory policies, such as surcharges imposed on ships of a particular origin or type on specific trade lanes, introduce new operational challe...
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MDPI AG
2025-08-01
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| author | Yanmeng Tao Ying Yang Shuaian Wang |
| author_facet | Yanmeng Tao Ying Yang Shuaian Wang |
| author_sort | Yanmeng Tao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Container liner shipping companies operate within a complex environment where they must balance profitability and service reliability. Meanwhile, evolving regulatory policies, such as surcharges imposed on ships of a particular origin or type on specific trade lanes, introduce new operational challenges. This study addresses the heterogeneous ship routing and demand acceptance problem, aiming to maximize two conflicting objectives: weekly profit and total transport volume. We formulate the problem as a bi-objective mixed-integer programming model and prove that the ship chartering constraint matrix is totally unimodular, enabling the reformulation of the model into a partially relaxed MIP that preserves optimality while improving computational efficiency. We further analyze key mathematical properties showing that the Pareto frontier consists of a finite union of continuous, piecewise linear segments but is generally non-convex with discontinuities. A case study based on a realistic liner shipping network confirms the model’s effectiveness in capturing the trade-off between profit and transport volume. Sensitivity analyses show that increasing freight rates enables higher profits without large losses in volume. Notably, this paper provides a practical risk management framework for shipping companies to enhance their adaptability under shifting regulatory landscapes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-54f0cd1ff73f46f99b4a98aca4e56601 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-54f0cd1ff73f46f99b4a98aca4e566012025-08-20T03:02:48ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-08-011515858210.3390/app15158582Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built ShipsYanmeng Tao0Ying Yang1Shuaian Wang2School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, ChinaDepartment of Logistics and Maritime Studies, Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaDepartment of Logistics and Maritime Studies, Faculty of Business, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaContainer liner shipping companies operate within a complex environment where they must balance profitability and service reliability. Meanwhile, evolving regulatory policies, such as surcharges imposed on ships of a particular origin or type on specific trade lanes, introduce new operational challenges. This study addresses the heterogeneous ship routing and demand acceptance problem, aiming to maximize two conflicting objectives: weekly profit and total transport volume. We formulate the problem as a bi-objective mixed-integer programming model and prove that the ship chartering constraint matrix is totally unimodular, enabling the reformulation of the model into a partially relaxed MIP that preserves optimality while improving computational efficiency. We further analyze key mathematical properties showing that the Pareto frontier consists of a finite union of continuous, piecewise linear segments but is generally non-convex with discontinuities. A case study based on a realistic liner shipping network confirms the model’s effectiveness in capturing the trade-off between profit and transport volume. Sensitivity analyses show that increasing freight rates enables higher profits without large losses in volume. Notably, this paper provides a practical risk management framework for shipping companies to enhance their adaptability under shifting regulatory landscapes.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8582container liner shippingbi-objective mixed-integer programming modeltotally unimodularPareto frontieroperational surchargesrisk management |
| spellingShingle | Yanmeng Tao Ying Yang Shuaian Wang Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships Applied Sciences container liner shipping bi-objective mixed-integer programming model totally unimodular Pareto frontier operational surcharges risk management |
| title | Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships |
| title_full | Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships |
| title_fullStr | Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships |
| title_full_unstemmed | Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships |
| title_short | Managing Surcharge Risk in Strategic Fleet Deployment: A Partial Relaxed MIP Model Framework with a Case Study on China-Built Ships |
| title_sort | managing surcharge risk in strategic fleet deployment a partial relaxed mip model framework with a case study on china built ships |
| topic | container liner shipping bi-objective mixed-integer programming model totally unimodular Pareto frontier operational surcharges risk management |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/15/8582 |
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