Research of import iron ore logistics system based on the minimum cost theory

Although it has become the mainstay properties of world economy, the development of the logistics industry is now out of balance: there are very few cases that have succeeded when referring to the transportation and distribution of bulk cargo. The paper presents a thorough research on iron ore logistics centering ports that act as active players in the supply chain, and builds up an order-transportation-inventory system with multi-suppliers and multi-users. Then a mathematical model is established to analyse an optimal logistic system to achieve minimum integrated circulating cost with full consideration of the profits of ports, carriers and shippers, by which the authors hope to provide a practical way for the development of the domestic iron ore logistics.