Optimisation of vessel journeys for oil products distribution

Abstract

The research deals with a routing and scheduling problem of specialized vessels carrying oil products. A heterogeneous fleet transports the products from several loading ports to several discharging ports. Time windows are involved on the discharging side due to production and storage plans, and on the loading side as a result of negotiations with customers. Demand may be delivered by more than one vessel. The routing and scheduling problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming problem. It includes information and constraints about the supply and demand, but also about the vessels, the vessel routes, and the ports and their restrictions.