Aylin ÇalışkanYeşim Deniz Özkan-ÖzenNazlican Gozacan2025-10-062024030888390308-88391464-525410.1080/03088839.2023.2180550https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85148594480&doi=10.1080%2F03088839.2023.2180550&partnerID=40&md5=22d7d6ac3ed6639cc4bb37bb09718388https://gcris.yasar.edu.tr/handle/123456789/8350Operating with fixed schedules requires coordinating and cooperating with many actors in liner shipping. Therefore liner operators announce predetermined cut-off dates for each voyage for Sippers to perform cargo-related transactions and send their documents. The shippers complain that the cut-off times are primarily for the operator’s benefit and create a very tight time. However the operators have trouble that the shippers cannot fulfill the necessary instructions and documents on time. From this point of view this study aims to offer optimized cut-off determination for liner services and employs a mixed-method approach to evaluate the cut-off process of liner operators. Firstly a qualitative study was conducted to obtain factors affecting cut-off date determination. Second the factors affecting cut-off dates were analyzed with the fuzzy Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) method. Third a step-by-step shipping process from booking to the vessel’s departure was developed. Moreover the simulation method was applied with actual data to offer alternative schedules for a liner operator for its two liner services. The results show that even using only the two strongest driving factors determined in the TISM process (TEU capacity of the vessel and number of port calls) improves the cut-off determination simulation performance results by 20%. © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.EnglishLiner Schedule, On-time Shipping, Operation Strategy, Ship Scheduling, Shipping Optimization, Simulation, Computer Simulation, Maritime Transportation, Numerical Model, Port Development, Vesselcomputer simulation, maritime transportation, numerical model, port development, vesselArticle