An integrated storage space and berth allocation problem in a container terminal

Abstract

In this paper, an integrated storage space allocation and berth assignment problem is proposed for the import containers in a container terminal. This problem is adopted from a real-world situation, in which the type of container affects the decision-making process for the storage space allocation problem (SSAP). A two-level approach is proposed to solve this problem. The SSAP and the berth assignment problem are formulated as mathematical programming models in two consecutive levels. In the first level, the import containers are allocated to the storage blocks in order to minimise the storage/retrieval times of the containers. The vessels are then allocated to the berth locations in the second level according to the results obtained from the first level in order to minimise the total distance travelled by container handling equipments between the storage blocks and the vessel berth locations. The performance of the extended model is examined and verified by a number of numerical examples.