Truck Arrivals Scheduling with Vessel Dependent Time Windows to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Irregular external truck arrivals at a marine container terminal often leads to long queues at gates and substantial greenhouse gas emissions. To relieve gate congestion and reduce carbon emissions, a new truck arrival pattern called “vessel dependent time windows (VDTWs)” is proposed. A two-phase queuing model is established to describe the queuing process of trucks at gate and yard. An optimization model is established to assign time window and appointment quota for each vessel in a marine container terminal running a terminal appointment system (TAS) with VDTWs. The objective is to minimize the total carbon dioxide emissions of trucks and rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGCs) during idling. The storage capacity constraints of each block and maximum queue length are also taken into consideration. A hybrid genetic algorithm based on simulated annealing is developed to solve the problem. Results based on numerical experiments demonstrate that this model can substantially reduce the waiting time of trucks at gate and yard and carbon dioxide emissions of trucks and RTGCs during idling.

Disaggregating Uncertainties in Operations Analysis of Intermodal Logistics Systems

The data collected on second-to-second operations of large-scale freight and logistics systems have increased in recent years. Data analytics can provide valuable insight and improve efficiency and reduce waste of resources. Understanding sources of uncertainty, including emergent and future conditions, is critical to enterprise resilience, recognizing regimes of operations, and to decision-making for capacity expansions, etc. This paper demonstrates analyses of operations data at a marine container terminal and disaggregates layers of uncertainty and discusses implications for operations decision-making and capacity expansion. The layers arise from various sources and perspectives such as level of detail in data collection and compatibilities of data sources, missing entries in databases, natural and human-induced disruptions, and competing stakeholder views of what should be the performance metrics. Among the resulting observations is that long truck turn times are correlated with high traffic volume which is distributed across most states of operations. Furthermore, data quality and presentation of performance metrics should be considered when interpreting results from data analyses. The potential influences of emergent and future conditions of technologies, markets, commerce, environment, behaviors, regulations, organizations, environment, and others on the regimes of terminal operations are examined.

The evaluation of the attractiveness of marine container terminal sector: analysing the polish sector

The importance of attractiveness of the marine container terminal operators have significantly increased in the recent years due to them influence on the worldwide economy. This article aim is to evaluate the attractiveness of marine container terminals by using a qualitative analysis. The main point is to define the attractiveness of the Marine Container Terminal Operators (MCTOs) located in Poland. The qualitative analysis has provided arguments to conclude that marine container market in Poland currently is attractive from the point of existing MCTOs in this sector. The developed model helps to estimate the attractiveness of the marine container terminal market (MCTM) in Poland.

A New Simulation Model for a Comprehensive Evaluation of Yard Truck Deployment Strategies at Marine Container Terminals

Taking into account increasing volumes of the international seaborne trade and increasing port congestion, marine container terminal operators have to improve efficiency of their operations in order to provide timely service of vessels and avoid product delivery delays to customers. This paper focuses on improvement of container transfer operations between the seaside and the marshaling yard and proposes five yard truck deployment strategies. Performance of the considered marine container terminal is evaluated under each one of the yard truck deployment strategies via simulation. Different performance indicators are estimated to determine how the suggested yard truck deployment strategies will affect all equipment types, involved in container handling and transfer. Results from the extensive simulation experiments showcase that all five yard truck deployment strategies provide similar values of vessel service and quay crane performance indicators, while the shortest distance based yard truck deployment strategy yields superior gantry crane and yard truck performance indicators. The worst values of performance indicators are recorded for the random yard truck deployment strategy. Furthermore, the developed simulation model can serve as an efficient planning tool for marine container terminal operators and enhance productivity of the available equipment.