The paper proposes a fleet size and mix vehicle routing model to optimize the river-sea liner shipping service. A mixed integer linear programming model is adopted as a rapid screening tool for strategic fleet planning to determine the type and number of river-sea vessels to deal with the fluctuation of the demand over the year, guaranteeing the efficiency and effectiveness of the shipping service. Moreover, the model provides a better-informed decision on the logistic infrastructure design, demand allocation and fleet size and composition in scenarios of demand uncertainty. Thus, the quantified decision support model increases the service level of the shipping service, reducing the frequent mismatches between fleet capacity and demand. A verification step aiming to test the behaviour of the model solution in a realistic case study is presented to analyse the impact of the demand fluctuation on the fleet composition. In conclusion, river-sea vessels enable door-to-door transport via coastal and inland waterways without transhipment. This approach offers a reliable and cost-effective solution. The findings of the work may enhance the state of the art, expanding the narrow studies on river-sea liner shipping services and demonstrating the advantages of river-sea vessels.
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Silva et al. (2024) studied this question.
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