The Hub-And-Spoke Network Design of Liner Shipping with a Precaution Against the Collapse of the Hub

The design of setting a backup hub port for the basic hub in a hub-and-spoke network is proposed to ensure high reliability of the network and to keep the loss of liner shipping as low as possible should the basic hub port were totally in failure. From the perspective of the supply end of the liner shipping network, a nonlinear integer programming model is constructed for minimizing the normal transport cost when the liner transport network is in order, and for the route resetting cost when setting the appropriate backup hub ports in case of port failure. The particle swarm optimization algorithm is designed to solve the model. The model and algorithm are verified. The Asia-Europe route is analyzed as an example, proving that the design can deal with the port failure risk, reduce the loss of container flow, minimize the route resetting cost and improve customer satisfaction.