[2] Shipping Optimization Challenge: Predicting Shipping Quantities | bitgrit
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[2] Shipping Optimization Challenge: Predicting Shipping Quantities

Help a logistics firm choose the best way to ship goods and predict estimated delivery times and shipment quantities.

CTRL F Consulting Ltd
629 Participants
897 Submissions
Brief
This is a 3-part data challenge made possible by a client of CTRL F who is a London-based international logistics firm. Each part of the challenge is designed to help this client optimize their cross-border deliveries and ensure affordable, secure, and reliable shipping. *NOTE: The prize money displayed is the total prize for all three Shipping Optimization Challenges. Please see the Rules section for more info* Using data from this logistics client with a daily shipment volume ranging from 5,000 to 10,000, you can identify a variety of factors to most effectively choose the ideal freight vendor, reduce shipment costs and duration, and ultimately find the best possible way to deliver goods. The goal of this competition is to create an algorithm to help this logistics firm choose the best way to ship goods and accurately predict estimated delivery times and shipment quantities.
Prizes
  • 1st Prize ($ 4000)

    The prize money displayed is the total prize for all three Shipping Optimization Challenges. Please see the Rules section for more info!
  • 2nd Prize ($ 2500)

    The prize money displayed is the total prize for all three Shipping Optimization Challenges. Please see the Rules section for more info!
  • 3rd Prize ($ 1000)

    The prize money displayed is the total prize for all three Shipping Optimization Challenges. Please see the Rules section for more info!
Timeline
  • 14 Oct 2020 Competition Starts
  • 30 Nov 2020 Competition Ends
  • 14 Dec 2020 Winners Announced (Subject to change based on submission results)
Data Breakdown
Purpose To create a model that will provide a daily forecast of the quantities of shipments expected to be processed by a given Shipping Company over a period of 2 months over the period of 2020-06-14 to 2020-08-13. This is a time-series forecasting challenge. The created time-series model should be able to forecast the daily quantities of shipments using 16 months of historical data between 2019-02-14 and 2020-06-13. Please note that the train file (Copy of train_3_4_pr.csv) doesn't have a target variable as itself, but it can be easily calculated. One row reflects one shipment so to get the quantities of shipments just group shipments by date and count the number of shipments per day. It will be your target variable. Input Dataset • Copy of train_3_4_pr.csv - Contains historical shipments over a 16-month period between 2019-02-14 and 2020-06-13. This file can be used to predict the quantity of shipments for each Shipping Company in the following 2-month period between 2020-06-14 and 2020-08-13. More than one record in the file might have the same 'shipment_id', but 'shipping_company' for such rows are different. 'shipping_company' reflects potential shipping companies which might be used, and the 'selected' column shows which company (in some cases more than one) has been selected. Please note that in this part of the competition (#2) train file contains only 'selected' companies meaning that 'selected' is always equal to 'Y'. # shipment_id - Shipment ID # send_timestamp - Date when the order was sent to the destination country (in 'source_country' timezone, e.g. UK - GMT) # pick_up_point - Pick Up Point abbreviation # drop_off_point - Drop Off Point abbreviation # source_country - Country from which the goods need to be shipped # destination_country - Country to where the goods need to be shipped # freight_cost - Cost of transportation/k # gross_weight - Gross weight in kg that needs to be shipped # shipment_charges - Fixed cost per shipment # shipment_mode - Method of shipment (e.g. air, ocean) # shipping_company - Candidate shipping company # selected - Whether the company in 'shipping_company' was selected or not • shipping_companies_details_2.csv - File that contains all necessary information about shipping companies # source_country - Country from which the goods need to be shipped # destination_country - Country to where the goods need to be shipped # shipment_mode - Method of shipment (e.g. air, ocean) # cut_off_time - The time window in which goods can be picked up (e.g. "10 - 2 and 3 - 6 BST" means that pick up is available between the times of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and again between the ties of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m). All times are in Bangladesh Standard Time. # tat - Turnaround Time is the time it takes from a package order to shipment. T refers to the time a package was sent, and CO means cut-off time, or the time after which a package can no longer be shipped. "Before CO – T+0" and "After CO – T+1" means that if the goods are sent to the shipping company before the cut off time, then the package will be sent on the same day. If the package arrives to the shipping company after the cut off time, then it will be shipped out on the following day. # processing_days - Days on which Pick up Point works # pick_up_point - Pick Up Point abbreviation # drop_off_point - Drop Off Point abbreviation # min_sc - Min Cost of Shipment # max_sc - Max Cost of Shipment # shipping_company - Name of shipping company # shipment_charges - Fixed cost per shipment Submission File • submission_3.csv - File that will be submitted by the participants. The file SHOULD NOT CONTAIN ANY (date+shipping company) ID OR FIELD TITLES; the order of the target variables should be according to the submission file format but the first row and first column should be removed prior to submission. The platform will only accept csv files that consist only of numeric values. # ID - Date in the mm/dd/yyyy format + Name of the shipping company (should be removed before the submission) # number - Number of shipments (target variable) - shipping quantities. This column is empty and should be filled out by the participants. Evaluation Metric Submissions are evaluated on e^(-RMSE/MAX(observed_values)) where Root Mean Squared Error is calculated between the predicted values and observed values. *While calculating the final ranking, the scores will be normalized (separately for each competition) to eliminate any inherent bias in the evaluation metric for the problem statements. We will normalize the scores before applying the formula (20% of Challenge 1) + (40% of Challenge 2) + (40% of Challenge 3). The score of each competition will have a valuable impact on the final score since they will be in the same range.
FAQs
Who do I contact if I need help regarding a competition?
For any inquiries, please contact us at [email protected].
How will I know if I’ve won?
If you are one of the top three winners for this competition, we will email you with the final result and information about how to claim your reward.
How can I report a bug?
Please shoot us an email at [email protected] with details and a description of the bug you are facing, and if possible, please attach a screenshot of the bug itself.
If I win, how can I receive my reward?
Prizes can be delivered via PayPal, wire transfer, or another suitable method. We understand that everyone prefers different payment methods, and we will endeavour to accommodate your needs as best as possible depending on your location and our ability to do so.
Rules
1. This competition is governed by the following Terms of Participation. Participants must agree to and comply with these terms to participate. 2. This competition consists of 3 problem statements. The winner will be determined by the total score calculated as: 20% of problem statement 1 + 40% of problem statement 2 + 40% of problem statement 3. 3. The maximum limit of submissions per day is 3. If users want to submit new files, they will have to wait until the following day to do so. Please keep this in mind when uploading a submission.csv file. 4. A competition prize will be awarded after we have received, successfully executed, and confirmed the validity of both the code and the solution. Once winners are announced and our team reaches out to them, the winners must provide the following by November 25, 2020 in order to avoid disqualification: a. All source files required to preprocess the data b. All source files required to build, train and make predictions with the model using the processed data c. A requirements.txt (or equivalent) file indicating all the required libraries and their versions as needed d. A ReadMe file containing the following: • Clear and unambiguous instructions on how to reproduce the predictions from start to finish including data pre-processing, feature extraction, model training and prediction generation • Environment details regarding how the model was developed and trained, including OS, memory (RAM), disk space, CPU/GPU used, and any required environment configurations required to execute the code • Clear answers of the following questions: - Which data files are being used? - How are these files processed? - What is the algorithm used and what are its main hyperparameters? - Any other comments considered relevant to understanding and using the model In the event these items are not provided or do not meet the minimum requirements listed above, we will not be able to award the winner with their respective prize. 5. If two or more participants have the same score on the leaderboard, the participant who submitted the winning file first will be considered the winner. 6. The dataset used for this competition is derived from real-world data that has been anonymized, so please do not use any models developed utilizing this data on similar matching services. 7. If you have any inquiries about this competition, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. We ask that users do not contact CTRL F directly.
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