Inbound container storage pricing considering price-dependent container storage time and congestion in container terminals

Congestion at ports and railheads is attracting more and more attention from both the government and industry. In this paper, we intend to improve container terminal operation efficiency from the perspective of inbound container storage pricing. We study a two-stage pricing game model for a profit-maximising shipping company and a container terminal operator. Two types of objective functions are investigated for the container terminal operator: profit maximisation and cost minimisation. Price-dependent container storage time is considered. After theoretical analysis, the pricing equilibria is derived. Through numerical studies, we find that the cost-minimising objective is recommended for the terminal operator to relieve the stress of yard congestion. Container terminal operators have an incentive to raise storage prices to cope with congestion in terminal yards.