• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• v.2
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• pp.157-164
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• 2006

This paper addresses the design of container liner shipping service networks by explicitly taking into account empty container repositioning and container fleet size. Two key and interrelated issues of deployments of ships and containers are usually treated separately by most existing studies on shipping network design. In this paper, both issues are considered simultaneously. The problem is formulated as a two-stage problem: the upper-problem being formulated as a Knapsack problem and the lower-problem as a Flow problem. A genetic algorithm based heuristic is developed for the problem. Through a number of numerical experiments that were conducted it was shown that the problem considering empty container repositioning provides a more insightful solution than the one without.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1055-1068
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• 2019

As the container market is expected to continue to increase, the volume of containers will increase, and the volume of empty containers will be proportional to this. Imbalances between imports and exports in each country have emerged, and the issue of collection and storage of empty containers is becoming more and more important, and it is necessary to appropriately deal with container demand for container presents. Therefore, in this paper, we are trying to develop a website that provides various empty container information and provides empty container leasing services based on this information. Through the development of these empty container websites, we would like to make empty container leasing and operations more efficient, improve empty container-related services and reduce costs.

• Journal of Korean Port Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-40
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• 1999

This study aims to apply and examine the stochastic approach for empty container repositioning and leasing problem. For this a case study has been carried out on actual data such as various cost components and traffic flow. The results reveal that the proposed methodology produces more realistic results than the conventional deterministic approaches. It is also found that the results are significantly affected by the accuracy of demand and supply forecast.

• IE interfaces
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 2011

H maritime company in Korea had a long history of difficulty in obtaining enough empty containers to transport its commodities. Despite efforts to resolve the problem, the repositioning of empty containers between depots was still planned manually, which consumed much worker time. To automate the generation of reposition plans, we developed a planning system to optimize the company's reposition of empty containers between global depots with a linear programming model functioning as a key decision engine in the system. The model determines the route, volume and mode of transportation for repositioning empty containers from depots with surplus containers to those requiring containers, as well as the empty space of ships generated from the unloading or loading of full and empty containers. The system has been in operation in the company's global network since March 2008.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.11-22
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• 1999

This paper is concerned with the development of a tractable model to assist liner shipping companies in the decision-making of empty container repositioning and leasing. A hybrid methodology is presented which properly accounts for the specific characteristics of empty container management. For this mathematical models are developed based on dynamic network models, covering both land and marine segment. Then a stochastic method is presented to deal with the uncertainty of the future demand and supply. Especially, the concept of opportunity cost has been introduced in order to explain interactions between the variation of the future demand and supply and the stock level at each depot.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2000

This paper deals with the development of the generalized model to assist the empty container repositioning and leasing problems for liner shipping companies. For this, the existing models have been reviewed. And then a mathematical model has been proposed to handle the specific characteristics of the empty container management; the dynamic characteristics, the multi echelon of the transportation and distribution systems, and the substitutions among various container types. In particular, this paper puts an emphasis on the modeling framework for considering substitutions among various container types.

• IE interfaces
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 2010

Containers are commonly used as an effective and relatively inexpensive method for transporting goods. Unfortunately, there are often imbalances between the number of import and export containers, and some ports have a surplus of empty containers while others have a deficit. The Empty Container Simulation Game was developed to address these problems. The game is a computer role playing simulation that simulates the distribution of empty containers in order to solve empty container imbalances among ports. An optimal solution is obtained by the computer using linear programming (LP). Upon completion of the game, a player's game results are displayed along with the LP solution. The game interface was designed to provide easy access and operation. This game will serve to provide an easy understanding and planning for empty container management.

• IE interfaces
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.255-262
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• 2001

Containerization of cargo transportation has been norm in the word wide maritime services, but containerized trades are typically unbalanced in terms of the number of inbound and outbound containers. Therefore it is critical for shipping companies to find operating policy such as the repositioning of empty containers or replenishing of short-term leasing containers from leasing companies to satisfy the freighter's demands of containers. This paper develops a simulation model using ARENA to establish shipping company's operational policy to relocate and replenish empty containers. Furthermore, this study proposes simple and heuristic empty container repositioning rules to minimize the relevant cost in terms of leasing, repositioning, and inventory holding costs.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2009

Today international trade through maritime transportation is significantly increasing. Due to this increase, shipping companies are faced with problems concerning the repositioning of empty containers from import dominant ports. The liner shipping service network has been provided to transport containers which load customers' freights. Container ships are moved on the liner shipping service network by observing the predetermined route and transportation time. This research deals with the empty containers distribution problem considering the container ship route. A mathematical model based on the mixed integer program has been introduced in this study. The objective is to minimize the total relevant costs of empty containers such as handling, leasing, and inventory holding, etc. Due to the complexity of the problem, a genetic algorithm has been suggested to solve large sized problems within a reasonable time. Numerical experiments have been conducted to show the efficiency of the genetic algorithm.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.201-209
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• 2005

Empty moves are necessary when there are imbalances among transportation demands from source locations to destination locations and the transportation demands require empty equipment that must be supplied to source locations. When the amount of the inflow exceeds that of the outflow or the amount of the outflow exceeds that of the inflow, repositioning empty equipment is necessary. Examples of the empty equipment are containers, chassis, and pallets. This paper addresses how to estimate the empty moves on several typical transportation networks. Types of transportation networks considered are chain, tree, cycle, tree of cycles, and hybrid networks. Simple procedures are suggested for determining the optimal empty flows. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate procedures in this paper.