Development of a decision support system for solving container loading problems

Abstract

The globalization of supply chains and rising fuel costs are forcing container carriers both to minimize the number of trips and to maximize available container space. This makes container loading (CL) a critical process especially in real‐life applications. Container loading (CL), which is a difficult problem to be solved, has many applications in container transportation and distribution industries. This article presents a container loading support system (CLSS). The proposed CLSS composes of three main components, including a hybrid Bees Algorithm as the main computational algorithm, the graphical user interface (GUI) and a simulation program. The aim of the designed system is to make the packing pattern more visible to the user in order to simplify the loading process. An illustrative example ‐a CL problem from literature ‐ is also provided to introduce the operation of the system and to prove its efficiency.

First published online: 24 Jun 2011

Keyword : decision support system, container loading problem, Bees Algorithm, graphical user interface, swarm intelligence