An integer linear programming for container stowage problem

So far most stowage planning only consider the stowage of single type containers or do not consider the stability of the containership. Here a 0-1 linear programming model for this problem is proposed. The objective is to maximize space utilization while minimize the operation cost from upload and download of different types containers at each port of a multi-port journey, with vessel stability, industry regulations and customized rules as the constraints. Based on experiments by adopting branch & cut algorithm from COIN-OR(Common Optimization Interface for Operations Research) to such model. Successively, a simulation system is developed to verify the feasibility and practicability of the model. By using the branch and cut algorithm of COIN-OR, the simulation system has shown that our model is efficient and robust.