A Mixed Integer Programming Model for Bulk Cargo Ship Scheduling with a Single Loading Port

This paper concerns a bulk or semibulk cargo ship scheduling problem with a single loading port. This type of ship scheduling problem is frequently needed in real world for carrying minerals or agricultural produce from a major single production zone to many destinations scattered over a large area of the world. The first optimization model for this problem was introduced by Ronen (1986) as a nonlinear mixed integer program. The model developed in this paper is an improvement of his model in the sense that nonlinearities and numerous unnecessary integer variables have been eliminated. By this improvement we could expect real world instances of moderate sizes to be solved optimal solutions by commercial integer programming software. Similarity between the ship scheduling model and the capacitated facility location model is also discussed.