OPTIMAL DECISION MAKING FOR EMPTY CONTAINER MANAGEMENT AT SEAPORT YARD

Background: In global trade, shipping companies are forced to manage empty containers due to imbalances in international trade activities. For decision-makers, the problems require considering restrictions and an uncertain environment and repositioning or leasing the containers to satisfy the rapidly changing global demands regardless of the epidemic outbreak's impact on the seaport. The proposed approach can help decision-makers manage the empty container in port yards more effectively under market uncertainty by employing the Bellman optimality principle for the stochastic dynamic system.

Methods: A stochastic production planning model is employed to cope with uncertainty and unexpected events to ensure a robust management strategy. Ito's formula describes the dynamic model for solving a stochastic differential equation. This paper uses stochastic optimal control theory to deal with efficient empty container management at the port yard. The findings have revealed the effectiveness of the proposed framework, which will provide a decision-making support scheme for efficient port operations.

Results: The presented algorithm is realized by a novel approach, employing the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation for optimal stochastic control problems. When comparing the model with and without uncertainty events, the gap is just about 0.04 %, proving the robustness of the proposed model. The results provide a decision support system for port managers when managing the empty container in the seaport yard.

Conclusions: The proposed model not only figures out the optimal ordering of empty containers for each cycle but also points out the optimal safety stock level. Using a stochastic optimization approach, decision-makers can implement a strategic management policy to optimize seaport operational costs under market disruptions.