Container Leasing Decision for Orders

Abstract

Many companies' distribution center need to lease containers to delivery the cargos according to the received orders and cargoes need to be packed into containers before they are delivered by airplane. In this study, a dynamic programming method is brought forward to solve this problem based on the solution of a mix-integer linear programming sub-problem. The mix-integer linear programming sub-problem is used to select container selection and optimize cargo loading, and dynamic programming method is used to optimize container leasing plan for orders within a certain period. The numerical tests show the method is efficient and great cost can be saved.