Supply chain integration through ship routing optimization among BRICS by using meta-heuristic technique

Abstract

Acquiring and distribution of goods among BRICS countries by way of supply chain integration through route optimization of a fleet of vessels to serve customers of coined members with minimum total cost and sum of demurrage cost (charged by port) and detention cost (charged by ocean carriers), arising from earliness and tardiness in ship’s arrival at ports with respect to the delivery deadlines of customers, is a homogeneous heterogeneous ship routing problem with time window (HHSRPTW), which involves the routing of a set of ships with known demands and predefined time windows as well as delivery time. To solve the problem, this study proposes a genetic algorithm as an optimization technique and MATLAB as a software tool.