Collaborative optimization of acquisition selection and service pricing for inland-river ports based on repeated games

Two key issues are confronted by the Port Group when entering an inland-river market; namely, port acquisition selection at the strategic level and port service pricing at the operational level. This article identifies the multi-type game relationships among the Port Group and multiple ports and customers in the planning time-horizon, and proposes a three-level programming model based on repeated games for the inland-river port acquisition selection and service pricing collaborative optimization problem. According to the model characteristics, a three-level nested heuristic algorithm is developed by combining a genetic algorithm, game simulation algorithm and equilibrium allocation algorithm. A series of numerical experiments with partial real data in Jining City, Shandong Province, China, is conducted to validate the superiority and efficiency of the proposed model and method. This article also provides some valuable management suggestions for the inland-river Port Group in terms of investment scale, investment expectation, pricing mode and customer relationship.