Scheduling material handling vehicles in a container terminal

Abstract

Increasing global trade has created the need for efficient container ports. The goal of the port is to move containers as quickly as possible and at the least possible cost. Goods that are delayed at the port are inevitably tardy when delivered to the customer, and thus sanctioned by late charges. Two key activities in the port are (i) unloading of containers from truck and then storage in the export area, and (ii) removal of containers from import storage and then loading onto the trucks. Since containers are large and heavy, specialized material handling vehicles are required for transporting them within the terminal. The focus of this paper is on port terminals where straddle carriers are primarily used to move containers. Container terminals typically have well developed computer and communication networks. Through these networks a terminal scheduler will control and schedule the movement of the straddle carrier fleet in real time. The objective of the terminal scheduler is to minimize the empty travel of straddle carriers, while at the same time minimizing any delays in servicing customers. This paper presents a straddle scheduling procedure that can be used by a terminal scheduler to control the movement of straddle carriers. At its core, the procedure is driven by an assignment algorithm that dynamically matches straddle carriers and trucks, as each becomes available. The procedures were developed and tested in collaboration with the largest container terminal operator in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Using a simulation model of the real system, the superiority of the proposed procedure over two alternative scheduling strategies is illustrated.

Keywords:

• Container Terminals
• vehicle scheduling
• straddle carrier

Acknowledgments

SANCHOY DAS is Professor of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His areas of expertise include design for manufacturability, service systems engineering and product disassembly engineering. He has received the Ralph E. Cross Award for Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer and the IIE National Doctoral Dissertation Award. Dr. Das received his MS and PhD degrees in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.

LAZAR N. SPASOVIC, is Professor of Management and Transportation at NJIT and Director of the National Center for Transportation and Industrial Productivity (NCTIP). An expert in the areas of freight transportation, business logistics and transportation systems analysis, Dr. Spasovic has been a leader in NJIT's transportation research and education programs and has more than ten years of corporate and academic transportation experience. Having worked within both the public and private sectors, he has a proven track record in funded research and scholarly activities, and has more than sixty refereed journal and proceedings papers and professional presentations to his credit. He holds a PhD degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park, and Diploma in Transportation Engineering from Belgrade University.