With the Success of the Automated Space Management Demonstration Test for Car Carriers, Accelerating Approach to Improving Customer Satisfaction and Reducing Environmental Impact –

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines,  and its group company MOL Information Systems,  announced the success of a demonstration test of automated space management for car carriers (booking cargo allocation on operated vessels and accompanying voyage planning) (Fig.1), using mathematical optimization , a technology both companies have been working on since 2019.

(Fig. 1) Coverage areas in this demonstration test

As a car carrier operator striving to meet customers’ ocean transport needs and logistics requirements, the MOL Group must not only maximize use of the space on vessel, of course, but also simultaneously plan voyage schedules for several vessels, with safe transport as the absolute top priority. The group must also take into consideration a host of terms and conditions such as combinations of wide varieties of vehicle models, different loading/unloading ports, and requests related to loading/unloading port arrival schedules, while maximizing route efficiency. Highly skilled staff in charge of these operations approach it like a complex puzzle. The use of this newly developed algorithm allows simultaneous examination of about three times as many possible plans as the conventional process. This helps optimize voyage scheduling and benefits all parties involved.

Working closely with Professor Shunji Umetani  of Osaka University, MOL has started operation of support systems, a “car carrier allocation plan”  and “cargo loading plan” . MOL will speed up overall decision-making in car carrier operations to offer the unprecedented attention to detail in transport service, more effectively addressing customer requests and accelerating its initiatives on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by realizing the use of mathematical optimization even in “space management of operated vessels,” which bridges these two processes.
The MOL Group continually works to improve the quality of its transport service through digital transformation (DX), with the aim of becoming customers’ first choice when selecting a business partner.