CASE STUDY: AB Maritime

AB Maritime company is operating a shuttle service

route between two ports. The Aqaba port to

Nuweiba port route connects Jordan in Asia

continent with Egypt in Africa continent via Gulf of

Aqaba in the Red Sea. AB Maritime owns a

heterogeneous fleet which is composed of five

ferries. One of these five ferries $($Bridge$)$ is so$-$called

RoRo vessel that transports wheeled cargo only

such as trucks, cars and buses. The other four

ferries are so$-$called RoPax vessels, which can also

transport passengers in addition to RoRo cargo.

Two of these four RoPax vessels, The Princess and

Queen Nefertiti, are not able to transport any

trucks but only cars, buses and passengers. The

other two RoPax vessels, Aylah and Sinaa, can take

any RoRo cargo in addition to passengers. The

voyage time is about $2$ hours for all the ferries

except for the Bridge, which takes about $4$ hours for

a single trip. Characteristics of all the ferries relating

to the maximum number of trips per day, maximum

capacities measured in lane meters $($LM$),$ and cost

figures for a single trip are all shown in Table $1.$ The

characteristic of the Aqaba$-$Nuweiba route are such

that making decisions about fleet deployment can

be done manually due to a relatively low demand

for the most part of the year. However, during the high season when a large fleet capacity is needed, the

decision of allocation becomes very difficult and human errors may cost thousands of US $$.$

Ferry Name Max trips

per day

Capacity:

passengers

Capacity:

total cargo

$($LM$)$

Capacity:

buses & trucks

$($LM$)$

Cost:

when full

Cost:

when empty

Aylah $3960420300$ $$4,303$ $$3,873$

Sinaa $366011541125$ $$4,881$ $$4,393$

Bridge $2012501250$ $$4,117$ $$3,705$

The Princess $4654206120*$ $$4,452$ $$4,007$

Queen Nefertiti $4580499\mathrm{.}565*$ $$4,034$ $$3,631$

TABLE $1$: AB MARITIME FLEET $(*$ THE PRINCESS AND QUEEN NEFERTITI CANNOT TAKE ANY TRUCKS; ONLY CARS AND BUSES$)$

During any time of the year, the company is obliged to the minimum service frequency of two voyages per

day $($one from each port$),$ which can be done by any ferry apart from the Bridge. During the high season,

however, the company is experiencing a very high cost on a daily basis and for that reason they would like

to be able to quickly find the optimal fleet deployment for any given day. The optimal fleet deployment

would allocate ferries on the shipping routes to meet the existing demand while minimising the total

voyages cost. The optimal allocation of ferries should also try to minimise the total number of passengers

and the total cargo left to be served the next day. In addition to all limitations given through Table $1,$ the

company must also ensure that all the passengers arrived in buses must be transported by the same ferry

that is transporting their buses.

Passengers and cargo volume daily demand from Aqaba to Nuweiba: July $26$th $-$ August $2$nd

$26-$Jul $27-$Jul $28-$Jul $29-$Jul $30-$Jul $31-$Jul $01-$Aug $02-$Aug

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Passengers $3820493385553493795922$

Trucks $450884543455355$

Cars $60231118111529$

Buses $00202031$

Passengers and cargo volume daily demand from Nuweiba to Aqaba: July $26$th $-$ August $2$nd

$26-$Jul $27-$Jul $28-$Jul $29-$Jul $30-$Jul $31-$Jul $01-$Aug $02-$Aug

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Passengers $22703606840147909342017801176$

Trucks $3033354835343642$

Cars $084412777$

Buses $487915116743923$