An Iterative Tabu-GRASP Based Heuristic for the Feeder Network Design Problem

The liner shipping industry is a vital part of the global economy, as it constitutes one of the cheapest and most energy efficient modes of cargo transport. Today, the vast majority of international trade is transported by container vessels. One of the main feature in liner shipping is the operation of services, i.e. cyclic itineraries of ports sailed by a number of similar container vessels. Liner shipping organises the shipping network as hub-and-spoke networks. Ports are divided by regions, and each region typically has a few large ports, called hubs, and many smaller ports, called spokes or feeder ports. Large vessels mainly visit hub ports, where they pick-up and delivery all the containers associated to the hub. From the hubs, smaller vessels operate feeder lines, where the containers are transported to the feeder ports. Hence, it is of utmost importance to have an efficient feeder network for the small vessels in order to better utilise the overall shipping network.