Optimization-based planning within the shipping industry - yesterday, today and tomorrow

Ocean shipping is the major transportation mode for international trade. The trend goes towards an increase in the use of ships due to the continuous growth in the world population, combined with product specialization and depletion of local resources. In addition, the shipping industry has a monopoly regarding transportation between continents for large volumes. Transportation optimization has been one of the big research topics within the OR-field. However, the attention to ship routing and scheduling has been relatively low. We discuss some of its reasons and focus on the research activity today. Finally, we indicate some of the challenges within ship routing for the future.