Research on container liner route design considering carbon emissions

With the continuous expansion of shipping demand, the problem of environmental pollution is becoming increasingly severe. An effective strategy for mitigating carbon emissions is the implementation of well-designed shipping routes. To address this concern, we construct a branch transportation network under the hub-and-spoke route structure and then formulate a mixed-integer programming model with the aim of minimizing overall operational costs. A genetic algorithm is designed to solve the model and determine the optimal combination of liner routes. Taking the main ports in the Bohai Rim region as an example, a series of numerical experiments are carried out. The results demonstrate that the deceleration of navigation is a feasible approach for carbon emission reduction.