A decision support system for managing combinatorial problems in container terminals (original) (raw)
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Intelligent planning for allocating containers in maritime terminals
Expert Systems with Applications, 2012
ABSTRACT Maritime container terminals are facilities where cargo containers are transshipped between ships or between ships and land vehicles (tucks or trains). These terminals involve a large number of complex and combinatorial problems. One of them is related to the Container Stacking Problem. A container yard is a type of temporary store where containers await further transport by truck, train or vessel. The main efficiency problem for an individual stack is to ensure easy access to containers at the expected time of transfer.Stacks are ‘last-in, first-out’ storage structures where containers are stocked in the order they arrive. But they should be retrieved from the stack in the order (usually different) they should be shipped. This retrieval operation should be efficiently performed, since berthing time of vessels and the terminal operations should be optimized. To do this, cranes can relocate containers in the stacks to minimize the rearrangements required to meet the expected order of demand for containers.In this paper, we present a domain-dependent heuristically guided planner for obtaining the optimized reshuffling plan, given a stacking state and a container demand. The planner can also be used for finding the best allocation of containers in a yard-bay in order to minimize the number of reshuffles as well as to be used for simulation tasks and obtaining conclusions about possible yard configurations.
Optimal berth allocation and time-invariant quay crane assignment in container terminals
European Journal of Operational Research, 2014
Due to the dramatic increase in the world's container traffic, the efficient management of operations in seaport container terminals has become a crucial issue. In this work, we focus on the integrated planning of the following problems faced at container terminals: berth allocation, quay crane assignment (number), and quay crane assignment (specific). First, we formulate a new binary integer linear program for the integrated solution of the berth allocation and quay crane assignment (number) problems called BACAP. Then we extend it by incorporating the quay crane assignment (specific) problem as well, which is named BACASP. Computational experiments performed on problem instances of various sizes indicate that the model for BA-CAP is very efficient and even large instances up to 60 vessels can be solved to optimality. Unfortunately, this is not the case for BACASP. Therefore, to be able to solve large instances, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for generating an optimal solution of BACASP from an optimal solution of BACAP using a post-processing algorithm. In case this condition is not satisfied, we make use of a cutting plane algorithm which solves BACAP repeatedly by adding cuts generated from the optimal solutions until the aforementioned condition holds. This method proves to be viable and enables us to solve large BACASP instances as well. To the best of our knowledge, these are the largest instances that can be solved to optimality for this difficult problem, which makes our work applicable to realistic problems.
Operations Research Proceedings
This paper deals with the combination of two decision problems, which occur consecutively while planning the charge and discharge operations of container ships in container terminals. The Berth Allocation Problem (BAP) considers the allocation of ships to berths in the course of time. The Crane Assignment Problem (CAP) addresses the assignment of quay cranes to ships. We provide a heuristic approach for the integrated solution of these problems and present computational results based on real world data.
In container terminals, the berth allocation problem and the quay crane assignment problem are highly interrelated. Recent research focused on integrating the two problems by incorporating a feedback loop structure. This type of integration achieves the required performance of each problem and is less complicated compared with the case of merging the two problems into a unified model. The sensitivity of the solution to the assumed container handling time as well as the non convergence to a stable state, are the major issues with the feedback loop integration approach. This paper presents an integrated approach for solving the berth allocation problem and the quay crane assignment problem with a feedback loop structure. The preliminary results reveal that the proposed approach shows no sensitivity to the assumed handling time and a significant improvement in the convergence to a stable state. Compared to a unified model from literature, the solution quality of the proposed approach i...
2014
In container terminals, discharging and loading of vessels are critical planning decisions which highly depend on the interaction between the quay cranes and internal trucks, they also have a significant impact on the terminal performance and revenue. Decisions on the assignments of quay cranes and internal trucks to the berthed vessels are typically made sequentially. However, the applicability of the handling plan can be improved when these two decisions are made simultaneously. This paper introduces an approach for assigning quay cranes and internal trucks to the berthed vessels simultaneously with consideration of the internal truck limited availability. A two phase solution methodology is proposed. In the first phase, a mixed integer programming model is formulated which provides the number of quay cranes assigned to each vessel, as well as the number of internal trucks assigned to each quay crane at each time period. In the second phase, a heuristic is used to solve the specif...
Operations Research Proceedings, 2013
In this work, we focus on the integrated planning of the following problems faced within the context of seaside operations at container terminals: berth allocation, quay crane assignment, and quay crane scheduling. First, we formulate a new binary integer linear program for the integrated solution of the berth allocation and quay crane assignment problems called BACAP. Then we extend it by incorporating the crane scheduling problem as well, which is named BACASP. Although the model for BACAP is very efficient and even large instances up to 60 vessels can be solved to optimality, only small instances for BACASP can be solved optimally. To be able to solve large instances, we present a necessary and sufficient condition for generating an optimal solution of BACASP from an optimal solution of BA-CAP using a postprocessing algorithm. We also develop a cutting plane algorithm for the case where this condition is not satisfied. This algorithm solves BACAP repeatedly by adding cuts generated from the optimal solutions at each trial until the aforementioned condition holds.
A Technique for Resolution of the Assignment Problem Containers in a Container Terminal
Advances in web technologies and engineering book series, 2018
A container terminal is a complicated system made up of several components in interdependence. Several materials handle possible to move containers at the port to better meet the needs of ships awaiting loading or unloading. In order to effectively manage this area, it is necessary to know the location of each container. Containers search times can be considerable and lead to delays that cause financial penalties for terminal management operators. In this chapter, the authors propose an approach to solve the problem of placement of containers through the description of a model that optimizes available storage space to handle the distance travelled between the containers and the storage locations in a seaport. In other words, a model that minimizes the total number of unnecessary movement while respecting the constraints of space and time. This work develops a software tool enabling identification of the best location of a container using the methodological resolution Branch and Bound.
A Planning Tool for Minimizing Reshuffles in Container Terminals
Tools with Artificial …, 2009
One of the more important problems in container terminal is related to the Container Stacking Problem. A container stack is a type of temporary store where containers await further transport by truck, train or vessel. The main efficiency problem for an individual stack is to ensure easy access to containers at the expected time of transfer. Since stacks are 'last-in, first-out', and the cranes used to relocate containers within the stack are heavily used, the stacks must be maintained in a state that minimizes on-demand relocations. In this paper, we present a new domain-dependent planning heuristic for finding the best configuration of containers in a bay. Thus, given a set of outgoing containers, our planner minimizes the number of relocations of containers in order to allocate all selected containers in an appropriate order to avoid further reshuffles.
A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO CONTAINER TERMINAL PLANNING AND OPERATIONAL DECISION MAKING
THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS CONFERENCE (MARLOG 2), 2013
This paper elaborates the different operations research methods used to solve container terminal operational decisions including terminal design, berth allocation, quay crane assignment, quay crane scheduling, container storage space allocation, container location assignment, retrieval, and pre-marshalling, as well as resource scheduling and terminal logistics in general. Solution methods including optimization using mixed integer linear programming, heuristic methods and discrete event simulation will be described. Implementing these methods will have dramatic impact on container terminal performance and operating costs.