Assessing the optimal location of a hub port by Mixed Integer Programming : A case of Pakbara port and the major ports in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Abstract
This research article aims to assess the location of Pakbara port expected to be the hub port in Southeast Asia among the serious competitive major ports in the same region by using the mixed integer programming in the developed mathematic model. The total cost derived from the movement costs from origin to destination ports via the hub ports is minimized. In total, the model consists of 26,521 decision variables and 36,104 constraints. The results derived from the model demonstrated that Pakbara port was the optimal solution when its amount of cargo flows was equaled to Bangkok port at least, the port costs are the same level as Laem Chabang port and the efficiency of cargo lifting rate was not worse than the major ports in Southeast Asia.