Liner shipping network design and scheduling problem
The liner shipping network design and scheduling problem (LSNDSP) is a mathematical optimization problem in operations research that models maritime transport logistic problems. It is of practical interest in the shipping industry, as improvements in mathematical technoques can be directly applied to real-world problems.
The problem consists of the simultaneous resolution of three sub-problems: fleet design, ship scheduling and cargo routing, while minimizing overall cost.
An industry-standard benchmark dataset, LINERLIB, is used to measure the effectiveness of mathematical approaches to the LSNDSP.
In 2024, resarchers from Google's Operations Research group announced that they had produced a new optimization technique which outperformed all previous solutions to the problem, and offered substantial increases in both profit and throughput for shipping companies.