Collaborative optimization of truck appointment system and yard cranes allocation based on ship time window

Abstract

With the rapid growth of the global container trade volume and the trend of large-scale container ships. The collection and distribution port efficiency and capacity of container terminals in various countries are facing huge challenges. Due to the randomness of most of the trucks entering the port, container terminals often face the problem of traffic congestion caused by the centralized arrival of trucks in the port and the load operation of the yard operation equipment. Therefore, terminal operators urgently need to manage and optimize all aspects of terminal collection and distribution operations. This paper proposes a truck appointment system that simultaneously considers the time window of the ships and the allocation plan of the yard crans, so as to reasonably allocate the arrival time of each truck and the amount of appointment quota. By means of shortening the time window of each ship’s and rationally allocating the yard cranes operations in the blocks, human and material resources can be fully utilized, so as to alleviate the traffic pressure in the container terminal, shorten the waiting time of ships and trucks, and reduce the cost of terminal operators.