The Effect of Feeder Route Arrangement on Interhub Linkage in Marine Hub-and-Spoke Networks

摘要

International containerships have run in marine hub-and-spoke networks for over two decades, but few papers have discussed these networks for the purpose of routing containerships. Most discussions focused on airway networks, which do not adequately capture the marine characteristic. Some papers have formulated integer programming models for routing containerships, but these models might generate unrealistic solutions because they ignore feeder routing patterns. The nonstrict quadratic assignment model explores the reality of marine networks. A simple example is presented to illustrate the model's formulation and solution methods. The results indicate that feeder route arrangement may not only reduce the total transportation cost, but also change the pattern of optimal hub-and-spoke networks.