Development of an economic and mathematical model of loading a freight and passenger ferry

Abstract

Ferries are an important structural element of the ferry transport technological system (TTS) and an integral part of the global navigation. Today, ferry transportation is widespread in Europe, the Baltics and the CIS countries. The most developed traffic on the maritime market is such freight and passenger ferries as ro-ro passenger and ro-pax ferries. Ferries are a linear fleet with a number of peculiarities that complicate the decision-making process on the formation of their loading. The features that do not depend on the ferry sailing region include diversified cargos, a composite cargo and passenger loading, a multitude of consignments from different shippers, a wide variety of tariffs, discounts and surcharges for transportation depending on many factors, and a set schedule of the ferry operation. The study presents an economic and mathematical model that maximally takes into account the specific features of organizing ferry transportation as well as the technical and operational characteristics of vessels. This is achieved by incorporating into the model structure those restrictions whose left side reflects the characteristics of the ferry and the line, whereas the right side reveals the parameters of the cargo and passenger traffic. In particular, it should be specified that a composite loading of the ferry with both cargos and passengers implies restrictions that prevent the carriage of passengers without a cargo or transporting cargos without passengers accompanying them. This peculiarity of ferry loading was disregarded in previous studies devoted to optimizing the loading of vessels. Furthermore, the control parameters, which are Boolean variables, used in the model help take into account the linear and mass characteristics of each cargo unit, which is caused by a wide variety of cargos within the same nomenclature. The specified peculiarities of the suggested economic and mathematical model make it applicable for both Ukrainian and foreign ferry operators. Furthermore, the model is open to any, if necessary, modifications depending on the requirements of individual companies due to addition or elimination of certain restrictions.