Repositioning and Optimal Re-Allocation of Empty Containers: A Review of Methods, Models, and Applications

Abstract

Managing empty-container movements is one of the most challenging logistics problems in the shipping field. With the growth of global trade imbalance, the repositioning process has become necessary, immediately after emptying a container. The main contribution of this research paper is to enrich the most frequently used methods, models, and applications in the literature, for relaxing the empty-container-repositioning problem. The article presents practices that vary between organizational policies, technical solutions, and modelling applications. A review of optimization models has been used for comparisons, based on specified criteria, such as the time frame, inputs, outputs, scale of the project, and value. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was applied through the online database Web of Science (WOS). It gives a comprehensive description of all the relevant published documents. On the basis of conducting a brief systematic review, future research opportunities have been determined, considering the emerging phenomena in container transport chains.

Data-Driven Empty Container Repositioning for Large Scale Railway Network With Fuzzy Demands

“…More details on ECR may be found in the published works [18], [19]. There are few literature on ECR of railway transport in recent years, especially the application studies of new methods and technologies with rapid development and application of information technology in railway transportation, as shown in Table Ⅰ.…”

“…10. The expression is shown in (19). Since 𝑑 is a fuzzy number satisfying the membership function 𝑢 , for any real number x, a chance-constraint is shown as (20).…”

Digital Technique-Enabled Container Logistics Supply Chain Sustainability Achievement

“…Driven by digital technology and IOT-based techniques, the container supply chain tends to the higher integration and efficient management of various links and data in the container supply chain practice [28]. Digital technology and information systems are adopted to achieve full process monitoring, data sharing, and intelligent decision making in container transportation, improving transportation efficiency and management level [29,30].…”

Optimization of empty container allocation for inland freight stations considering stochastic demand

“…In essence, ECIP can be viewed as a problem combining container transportation with inventory management. Representative studies can be found in Shintani et al (2007) , Deidda et al (2008) , Song and Dong (2015) and Abdelshafie et al (2022) . According to existing research, this section conducts a literature review from two aspects: the empty container allocation problem (Section 2.1 ) and the empty container inventory management problem (Section 2.2 ).…”