Decision support for distribution chain management: the Swedish pulp industry

We discuss an intelligent use of a fleet of vessels. In particular, a distribution chain, extracted from a supply chain of a Swedish pulp producing company, is presented. Due to the two level characteristic of the distribution chain, it becomes long and complex, involving both inventory management and multi-modal routing decisions. The main mode of transportation is seaborne shipping, and special emphasis is given to the marine transportation decisions including routing and scheduling of owned vessels as well as charter vessels on the spot market. A solution approach based on column generation is proposed, and initial tests show promising results.