Many-Objective Container Stowage Optimization Based on Improved NSGA-III
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper proposes a multi-objective optimization approach for the container-ship stowage planning problem, incorporating several constraints. They propose also a variant of the nondominated sortied genetic algorithm (NGSA III) to find non-dominated solutions of the problem. They also contrast the algorithm with other existing ones in the literature.
The paper deserves to published on this special issue, but I would like to ask the authors to carefully revise both the grammar and English, starting from the abstract (e.g. sentences starting with “And…”). Also, the formatting of the text and figures should be rechecked.
Author Response
Dear reviewer，
Thank you for your constructive comments on our original manuscript, which have made a positive contribution to the quality of our paper.
We have responded to the reviewers' comments one by one.
Please see attached.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This study attempts to solve a variant of stowage planning problem. The authors suggest a heuristic method. The paper needs a major revision to address following comments:
1- The concept of overstowage is missing. I encourage authors to include hatch over consideration.
2- Many papers formulate stability and seaworthiness considerations in the constraint set. What is your motivation for them to be in the objective function? This should be discussed better.
3- I encourage authors to solve a classical stowage planning problem with your suggested method and report results. You can solve the problem in 2020. A Mathematical model and two-stage heuristic for the container stowage planning problem with stability parameters. IEEE Access, 8, pp.113392-113413., and compare your results with their results.
4- Following survey paper reviews stowage planning studies. You can cite and discuss it in your paper:
2015, September. A survey on the ship loading problem. In International Conference on Computational Logistics (pp. 238-251). Springer, Cham.
3- Following papers study variants of stowage planning. You can cite and discuss them in your paper:
2018. Flexible ship loading problem with transfer vehicle assignment and scheduling. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 111, pp.113-134.
2019. A rolling horizon heuristic for the stochastic cargo mix problem. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 123, pp.200-220.
Author Response
Dear reviewer，
Thank you for your constructive comments on our original manuscript, which have made a positive contribution to the quality of our paper.
We have responded to the reviewers' comments point-by-point.
Please see attached.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This article is relevant because it is devoted to the discussion of the problem of the development of smart technologies in maritime transport, since the use of optimization methods to improve the processes of loading and unloading container ships can not only increase the efficiency of the port, but also improve the safety of the transportation process (navigation). The title of the article adequately reflects the content. In the abstract, the authors give the essence of the article, briefly describe the state of the problem, research methods, and results. Keywords correspond to the article content.
In the introduction, the authors describe the problems and stages of solving the problem of planning the placement of cargo on a container ship, and also give the structure of the article. The second section presents a review of the literature on recent advances in the field of solving the problem of planning the loading of a container ship and algorithms for multiobjective evolutionary optimization. In the third section, the authors describe the problem: what options for the location of the compartments exist, how the stability of the container ship is ensured by the rational arrangement of containers, how the most efficient loading and unloading can be ensured; and also give the objective function of this problem. The fourth section includes an algorithm combining local search and genetic operators, and the authors also provide specific details for solving the problems described in the third section. In the fifth section, the authors give a large number of examples and experiments. In the “Conclusions” section, the authors summarize the results obtained, draw conclusions on the work, and indicate directions for future research.
The article has been prepared in accordance with the instructions for authors, corresponds to the topic that it researches and publishes. In our opinion, the article corresponds to the topic “improving the security and intelligence of the transport system” and corresponds in type to the preliminary study.
Comment.
- It is not clear from the article text how the characteristics of the loading and unloading ports of container ships are taken into account
- It is not entirely clear how the resulting solution will be used in the practical activities of decision makers.
- In figures 12, 14 and 15, it is necessary to increase the size and clarity of the font (the inscriptions are too small and hard to see)
- In Figure 8, you need to change the alignment of the labels in the cells (not along the bottom, but in the center).
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear reviewer，
Thank you for your constructive comments on our original manuscript, which have made a positive contribution to the quality of our paper.
We have responded to the reviewers' comments point-by-point.
Please see attached.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper can be accepted. In the future study, hatch cover should certainly be included as it has an important impact on stowage planning.
