We present the Incident Based-Boat Allocation Model (IB-BAM), a multi-objective model designed to allocate search and rescue resources. The decision of where to locate search and rescue boats depends upon a set of criteria that are unique to a given problem such as the density and types of incidents responded in the area of interest, resource capabilities, geographical factors and governments’ business rules. Thus, traditional models that incorporate only political decisions are no longer appropriate. IB-BAM considers all these criteria and determines optimal boat allocation plans with the objectives of minimizing response time to incidents, fleet operating cost and the mismatch between boats’ workload and operation capacity hours. IB-BAM methodology includes three major steps: In step-1, the model ranks and assigns a weight to each incident type according to its severity, using Analytical Hierarchy Process technique. In step-2, considering historical incident data, a Zonal Distribution Model generates aggregated weighted demand locations. In step-3, a multi-objective mixed integer program determines locations and responsibility zones of search and rescue boats. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model with respect to the Aegean Sea responsibility area of the Turkish Coast Guard boats. The results show that IB-BAM implementation led to a more effective utilization of boats considering the three objectives of the model. 
A multi-objective model for locating search and rescue boats