The purpose of this paper is to improve the tactical planning of the stakeholders of the midstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain, using an optimisation approach. The results can contribute to enhance the proactivity on significant investment decisions.,A decision support tool (DST) is proposed to minimise the operational cost of a fleet of vessels. Mixed integer linear programming (MILP) used to perform contract assignment combined with a genetic algorithm solution are the foundations of the DST. The aforementioned methods present a formulation of the maritime transportation problem from the scope of tramp shipping companies.,The validation of the DST through a realistic case study illustrates its potential in generating quantitative data about the cost of the midstream LNG supply chain and the annual operations schedule for a fleet of LNG vessels.,The LNG transportation scenarios included assumptions, which were required for resource reasons, such as omission of stochasticity. Notwithstanding the assumptions made, it is to the authors’ belief that the paper meets its objectives as described above.,Potential practitioners may exploit the results to make informed decisions on the operation of LNG vessels, charter rate quotes and/or redeployment of existing fleet.,The research has a novel approach as it combines the creation of practical management tool, with a comprehensive mathematical modelling, for the midstream LNG supply chain. Quantifying future fleet costs is an alternative approach, which may improve the planning procedure of a tramp shipping company.

中文翻译：

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液化天然气供应链计划的创新决策支持工具

本文的目的是使用一种优化方法来改善中游液化天然气（LNG）供应链利益相关者的战术规划。结果可有助于增强重大投资决策的积极性。提出了决策支持工具（DST），以最大程度地减少船队的运营成本。DST的基础是用于执行合同分配的混合整数线性规划（MILP）与遗传算法解决方案。前述方法提出了流浪运输公司范围内的海上运输问题。通过实际案例研究对DST进行的验证说明了DST在生成有关中游LNG供应链成本和LNG船队年度运营时间表的定量数据方面的潜力。LNG运输方案包括一些假设，资源原因，例如省略了随机性。尽管做出了这些假设，但作者相信该文件能够达到上述目标。潜在的从业人员可以利用该结果对LNG船的运营，租赁价格报价和/或现有船队的重新部署做出明智的决定。 。，这项研究采用了一种新颖的方法，它将针对中游LNG供应链的实用管理工具的创建与全面的数学建模相结合。