Feasibility and Financial Studies of a Port Installation

Abstract

The subject of this paper is a computer simulation of the operations of an iron ore unloading port. The object of the work was first, to estimate the advantages of reducing some of the delays caused by the port's physical limitations, and second, to estimate the capacity of the existing system and determine whether this could be modified to handle estimated future foreign ore requirements.

Part 1 provides a brief background to the project, including its evolution from earlier work, and a description of the shipping operations and plant with which the work is concerned.

The formulation of the model, including the simulation of scheduled and random arrivals, is described in Part 2. This is followed in Part 3 by an account of the programming details, the logic of the unit scan procedure, and the arrangement of results.

The choice of dependent variables and the treatment of results are discussed in Part 4, which also includes a summary of the conclusions drawn from the results and an indication of the use made by management of them.

The authors' company requires to import increasing quantities of foreign iron ore from increasingly distant ports. The problems arising concern the economic aspects of shipping operations, the feasibility of using other ports as transhipment terminals, and the future of the company's own port. This paper described work relating to this third aspect only.

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Erratum: Studies of a Port Installation

Paper given before the Operational Research Society on 27 March, 1961.

Paper given before the Operational Research Society on 27 March, 1961.