Container supply with multi-trailer trucks: parking strategies to speed up the gantry crane-based loading of freight trains in rail yards

Abstract

Multi-trailer trucks (also referred to as road trains) consist of a strong tractor truck pulling about a handful of trailers. They are, for instance, used in large ports to collectively transport a batch of containers between different container yards. We address the decision task where to park successive road trains next to some freight trains, so that a gantry crane can quickly transship the boxes between both means of transport. We formalize the resulting optimization problem and derive suited solution procedures. These algorithms are, then, applied to investigate different managerial aspects such as the relation to preceding decision problems, i.e., the composition of road trains, and the road trains’ efficiency compared to conventional (single-trailer) trucks.