Dynamic ship assignment problem with uncertain demands
Name
953869802-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
6.66 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
747ec29f24fd66160e6bc671bc3023fd
Author(s)
Kim, Yoo Joon
Advisor(s)
Christopher G. Caplice.
Date Issued
2016
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Product tanker shipping companies in the spot market face severe volatility in demand and in price. We explore shipping companies' two problems: evaluating supply and demand of the market and assigning cargoes in order to maximize profitability. By approximating the market as a queueing system, we obtain utilization ratios, which effectively model supply and demand of the market. This approach directly evaluates the impact of ton-mile on utilization ratios, even a small growth of which may result in a significant supply shortage. Queueing approximation also allows formulation of dynamic ship assignment as a semi-Markov average cost problem, attaining stationary policies. When profit margins are low, a stationary policy frequently rejects cargoes. Despite rejections, it yields the highest profit per cargo, compared to other methods. Such optimal controls remain valid even when demand fluctuates.
Description
Thesis: S.M. in Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-70).
Subjects
Civil and Environmental Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
