Cooperative maximum-flow problem under uncertainty in logistic networks

• We investigate cooperation opportunity among several owners of a logistic network.
• Cooperative game methods for uncertain transshipment problem are proposed.
• We study how cooperation of players may lead to a reliable maximum flow.
• The advantages of cooperation of players depend on their risk behavior.

Many decision-making problems in the context of transhipment and logistics, distribution networks, airline planning and so on, can best be analyzed by the means of maximum-flow models in networks. In a multiple-owner network, several players possess arcs and nodes of a network. Since parameters of the network in many real problems are highly uncertain, maintaining a stable flow is as much important as maximizing the flow passing through the network. Thus, a key question is how the independent owners of a network should collaborate to maintain a reliable maximum flow. We address this question by presenting a stochastic mathematical programming model for the multiple-owner graph problem under uncertainty. Afterwards, a number of collaboration methods are studied based on the game theory. These methods are illustrated with an example to gain an insight into properties of the corresponding game results and behavior of the different solution concepts.