Teaching operations research methods in liner shipping

Abstract

Liner shipping has been a hot topic in higher education for students with logistics and transportation backgrounds. Various Operations Research (OR) methods have been applied to solve problems arising in these operations, both by industrial practitioners and academic researchers. For students majoring in logistics and transportation, learning how to use OR techniques to solve practical problems in liner shipping facilitates them to better adapt themselves to future work. This paper introduces the philosophy and practice we applied in a subject that teaches college students how to use OR techniques to solve problems arising in liner shipping. We found that learning how to use OR methods to solve problems arising in liner shipping helps students to acquire a systematical understanding of the operations in liner shipping. It also leads students to analyze and solve problems in a logical and rigorous way.