Optimizing Maritime Preparedness Under Uncertainty – Locating Tugboats Along the Norwegian Coast

Abstract

We study the strategic problem of locating tugboats along the Norwegian coast to optimize maritime preparedness. The problem is formulated as a two-stage stochastic program. In the first stage, we locate the tugboats such that nominal coverage requirements are satisfied, whereas we deploy the located tugboats in the second stage in order to assist vessels in distress. The objective is to minimize the sum of the costs of publicly operated tugboats in the emergency towing service and the expected penalty costs due to insufficient preparedness. We solve the problem using Sample Average Approximation in combination with a self-developed heuristic. Our results indicate that we can achieve a sufficient preparedness level with six tugboats.