Collaborative Inter-Terminal Transportation Of Containers

In a port consisting of multiple container terminals, numerous containers are transshipped among the terminals. All the transshipment containers bound for a vessel are generally shifted from one terminal to another within a short time period. However, as each shipping liner issues delivery orders exclusively to a trucking company, it is highly probable that a truck that transports a container from one terminal to another returns back empty, thus resulting in excessive empty travels by trucks among terminals. A scheduling problem for transshipment container deliveries, called Inter-Terminal Transportation Problem (ITTP), is defined, and a mathematical formulation is provided. This study assumes that trucking companies collaborate with each other for minimizing empty travels by sharing delivery orders. A numerical experiment is conducted to investigate the variation in the total cost and profit of each trucking company as a result of the collaboration.