Model Evaluation and Ranking of How to Optimize the Transport of Container Shipping Companies Using TOPSIS Technique

Subject Areas : Business Strategy

Hamed Shakerian ¹ , Morteza Rahmanee Nikooei ²

1 - Department of Management, Yazd Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, yazd, Iran
2 - Department of Management, Yazd Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, yazd, Iran

Received: 2015-04-12 Accepted : 2015-06-12 Published : 2016-04-01

Keywords: TOPSIS, Shannon Entropy, Critical point, transportation pattern, multi-criteria decision analysis,

Abstract :

Today, along with enhancement of social well-being andeconomic development, demand for transportation is growing increasingly.Many countries are seeking for providing transportation servicesat a reasonable price. Therefore, optimization of carrying goods on nationalor international roads is highly important in terms of costs andtransportation indicator, so that the goods are shipped at minimumcosts and maximum profit for the forwarding agencies. For this purpose,the limitations should be identified. In this paper, considering critical indicatorsand various modes of transportation, we attempt to choose andrank the best option with respect to pre-defined criteria imposing leastcosts. The indicators and criteria determined in this research for selectingthe best mode of container loading are those introduced by transportexperts (sima marine shipping company) based on the their importancefor the company. These indicators include forwarding charges, volumeof containers and quantity of portable containers (20ft and 40ft), which are not equally important and each has been given a weight by company’sexperts, the total of which equals one. To use the weights ina logical manner, shannon entropy technique was applied. Our aim inthis research is selection of the best option for carrying the containersunder conditions which the demand for the goods to be shipped overweighsthe capacity of the ship, known as critical point in loading thecontainers. To achieve this aim, for ranking containerized shipping amulti-criteria decision analysis method called topsis is used to rank moptions against n criteria.

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