Liner Shipping Hub-and-spoke Network Design Based On Minimax Regret Strategy

Under slowly recovering linear shipping market, it is an important measure to design feasible linear shipping network for linear shipping companies to distribute limited resources reasonably and reduce transportation cost, obtaining operational advantages. Considering the trend of large-scale and linear shipping alliances, more and more linear shipping companies now implement hub-spoke networks instead of multi-port-calling network so as to enhance frequency of service and achieve economy of scale. Designing hub-spoke network decides the scope and level of service linear shipping companies can provide in the future. And in order to ensure their market shares, linear shipping companies would not change their routes easily. However, on the process of operation, elements like market demand are uncertain. And it is exactly the key point of linear shipping companies that how they can design shipping network under demand fluctuations so as to avoid risks and achieve long-term income.This thesis introduces minimax regret theory to deal with demand uncertainty of hub-spoke network design and construct a hub-spoke network optimization model under demand uncertainty on the basis of a definitive model. The definitive model have un-capacitated hub ports involved and each feeder port is connected to only one hub port. The aim of infinitive model is to construct a network that can keep stability in mid and long-term. The model can be resolved with Tabu search algorithm and the choice of hub ports and the allocation of feeder ports are decided meanwhile under minimum operational cost. And finally it takes a Asia-Northwest Europe route as an example, proving the feasibility and effectiveness of the very model. The final result is robust which could help to construct a network that can keep rationality and feasibility in mid and long-term.