Optimization of Shipping Routes for Container Ships from Indonesia to the Asia-Pacific Using Heuristic Algorithms

Abstract

Sea transportation such as that by container ships has an essential role in the economy both locally and internationally. Ships are a major commodity in distributing goods over long distances due to their relatively low price compared to air shipping. The study implemented an optimization method using heuristic algorithms with ship route selection to minimize operational costs based on the parameters of mileage between 12 ports in the Asia-Pacific region. The ship speed, engine power, and fuel prices at each port are processed using asymmetric traveling salesman problem modeling (ATSP). The research uses three different algorithms to compare with the performance of the traveling salesman problem, namely the nearest neighbor algorithm, simulated annealing, and a genetic algorithm, with an objective function of keeping fuel costs that ships will incur to a minimum. The results show that the genetic algorithm provides the route with the lowest fuel cost.