The Optimization Of Empty Container Transportation System Of China Railway Express Considering Shipping

With the advance of "the Belt and Road" initiative,China Railway express(CR express)has developed rapidly in recent years.By the end of 2018,CR express have 65 operational lines and 56 domestically operated cities,connecting 15 European countries,and the cumulative number of trains exceeded 12,000.The total value of transported cargo in 2018 is$16 billion.However,the development of CR express still faces many challenges,the most notable of which is the imbalance of east-westbound cargo flow.The westbound cargo flow much larger than the eastbound creates a demand for the repatriation of empty containers from overseas.Faced with this demand,the high transportation costs incurred by the return trips will become a resistance for the further development of CR express.This is one of the problems that need to be solved urgently for the CR express brand.Compared with CR express,shipping has a strong advantage in freight rate.Meanwhile,the Far East-Europe route is a busy line.Therefore,shipping has provided new possibilities for solving the difficulties of empty container transportation CR express faced.Based on this possibility,this paper proposes two new empty container transportation systems:one is that the overseas empty container directly transported to the nearby port before shipping;the other is to establish a hub outside,collect the empty containers in the hinterland before shipping together.For the hub-establish transportation system,this paper establishes the P-Hub median model for the hub location with the goal of minimizing the cost of the transportation network.And mathematical models are built on the return trip train and direct shipping back to characterize the cost of the two transport network.Then take the case of the CR express with high market share and covering almost all of Europe as an example,to analyze the effectiveness of the new transportation system.After data collection and model solving,the hub was determined to be Duisburg and its hinterland range was defined.At the same time,the results of the example show that empty container transportation system considering shipping can effectively reduce the network transportation costs.A comparative analysis of the two new empty container transport systems resulted in a lower transportation cost for the transportation system that established the hub.A sensitivity analysis is then conducted on the relevant factors affecting the cost of the transportation network.