A LINER SHIPPING NETWORK DESIGN

The present publication is dealing with the design of the liner shipping networks delivering correct routes and schedules for the vessels that visit the harbors on a regular basis or are engaged in a closed round trips. One of the examples of such vessels can be container vessels commonly maintaining a weekly harbor visiting schedule.

The author of the book has elaborated a network design approach that considers not only the harbors planned to be visited, cargo transported and number of the available vessels but also the environmental influences. In addition, the revenue contribution of various alternative systems of shipboard propulsion can also be taken into consideration and duly analyzed.

Numerous extensive tests have been conducted and the result obtained during those tests are actually indicating that quite significant savings can be reached when using such design approach. The book starts with some introduction followed by the general information on the maritime transportation including freight transportation systems, scheduling and routing. The rest of the chapters deal with the environmental routing, computational tests, strategic design etc. There are several appendices at the end of the book.