Scheduling Tank Container Movements for Chemical Logistics

Logistics is the glue that binds the entities of a supply chain. More and more businesses have now realized that its effectiveness is critical to the superior performance of the supply chain. For instance, the move towards just in time and agile manufacturing has tremendously increased the impact of the logistics decisions. This is especially true for the chemical industry with its globally distributed plant sites, storage terminals, suppliers, customers, etc. The global transport of chemicals and a variety of other materials (e.g. plant equipment, instrumentation, indirect materials, safety equipment, etc.) is central to its day-to-day operations. Logistics costs can vary from 3.6% of the purchase price for a best-in-class (BIC) site to 20% at the other extreme (Karimi et al., 2002).