A chance-constrained goal programming model to evaluate response resources for marine pollution disasters

This paper develops a model to aid Coast Guard managers in formulating appropriate policies with respect to planning for various types of equipment required to contain major pollution incidents. The model is elaborated in terms of three primary stages of response: offloading, containment, and removal. The zero order rule of chance constrained programming is used to obtain a deterministic equivalent of the original chance constrained model. This is then replaced by a goal programming formulation to allow for plans that come “as close as possible” to desired quality and risk levels for each pertinent region and type of incident. Numerical examples illustrate potential uses of the model with special emphasis on its value for budgetary (equipment) planning by central management that extends to evaluation of risk and performance quality levels, as well as the usual dual evaluator approaches for evaluating initially prescribed levels for equipment and their efficiency coefficients.