Research On Selection And Transportation Assignment Of Short-Term Charters

In the international bulk cargo transportation business,the tramp shipping market plays an important role.Tramp shipping transportation business is committed through a chartering contract.According to the length of the contract period,chartering can be categorized into short-term chartering and long-term chartering.Short-term chartering is the best choice for shipping companies to efficiently use the transportation resources and obtain high return.The traditional short-term chartering opportunity choice is based on the subjective judgment of a single salesman,lacking accuracy and reliability,which is not conducive to the full utilization of the shipping company’s transportation resources.Study of short-term chartering opportunities has important practical implications for shipping companies.At present,most of the research on the chartering industry is based on the assumption that the choice of chartering opportunities has been determined.Few scholars have studied the short-term chartering opportunities of shipping companies.This paper proposes a solution to help the shipping company to choose the optimal short-term chartering opportunity and allocate cargo to optimal ship at the same time.Considering the characteristics of the short-term chartering business,the method we propose has two steps include short-term charter opportunity evaluation and short-term charter opportunity selection and ship scheduling.Short-term charter opportunity evaluation is based on the triangular fuzzy number ideal point method.After the low-priority chartering opportunities are eliminated,a mathematical model of ship cargo selection and assignment is established.Short-term chartering selection and transportation assignment are combined.Genetic Algorithm is used to figure the model.Research shows that the method of this paper is very suitable for solving the problem of short-term chartering opportunity choice.The method can provide decision-making reference basis for the shipping companies engaged in chartering business to select and allocate short-term chartering opportunities,improve the decision-making level of the shipping company,and thus bring substantial profits to the shipping company.