The Scheduling of a Barge Line

This paper is the case history of an operations-research study of a barge line undertaken in the summer of 1954. One problem considered was the scheduling of tugs and the determination of the resulting number of barge loads per year which would result. The second problem was to determine the proper balance between tugs and barges for three or four tugs. These problems were solved by simulating the operation, the results of the simulation led to recommendations and predictions. These predictions are compared to the actual data over the ensuing years as the recommendations were carried out.