The impact of foldable containers on container fleet management costs in hinterland transport

本研究分析了利用可折叠集装箱重新定位空箱以节省集装箱船队管理成本的可能性。我们将整个空集装箱流建模为具有不同策略的空集装箱流行程的整数规划问题。利用该模型对由于贸易极度不平衡导致的腹地空箱重定位问题进行了优化的数值实验。研究发现，与使用标准容器相比，可折叠容器可以大大节省重新定位的成本。

This study analyzes the possibility to save container fleet management costs in repositioning empty containers through the use of foldable containers. We model this entire empty container flow as an integer programming problem with different strategies in empty container flow itinerary. The model is used to carry out numerical experiments that optimize the empty container repositioning in the hinterland, where there are serious empty container repositioning problems caused by extremely imbalanced trades. The study finds that foldable containers can substantially save on repositioning costs compared to the use of standard containers.