IEEE Access (Jan 2024)
Research on Site Selection of Ship Tank Washing Stations Based on a Biobjective Optimization Model
Abstract
This paper presents a biobjective model for locating tank washing stations. The model aims to minimize the total void sailing cost of ships and the facility load deviation of tank washing stations to improve the facility utilization rate and avoid overloading facility services while ensuring that the tank washing demand of the ships carrying hazardous goods in the region can be adequately met. By introducing the “proximity allocation” constraint and assigning the ship to the tank washing station that minimizes the void sailing cost, a more realistic model is set up. This allows for a more accurate estimation of the number of tank washing services at the tank washing station and measurement of the facility load, facilitating the optimization of the siting objective. This paper applies a biobjective optimization siting model to identify a set of Pareto-optimal solutions for the siting of tank washing stations at 79 terminals in 18 port districts in the Pearl River Delta region based on one quarter’s data for the demand of tank washing for the ships in the region. The average void sailing cost for a group of better-performing solutions is 11.4 km, while the average tank washing station facility load is 11.8%, which is close to the value of 8% of the optimal solution. In addition, through a sensitivity analysis, it is demonstrated that when the void sailing cost is adjusted according to the tonnage of the ship and the additional cost of travel to a third terminal for tank washing, the total ship void sailing cost in the results of the model will decrease or increase accordingly. The results demonstrate that the model can provide a scientific basis for decision-making regarding the siting of tank washing stations. This ensures the effective utilization of tank washing stations while enhancing the availability of tank washing services.
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