Optimizing Truck Visits to Container Terminals with Consideration of Multiple Drays of Individual Drivers

Raka Jovanovic

doi:10.1155/2018/5165124

Abstract

In this paper a new approach for designing a truck appointment system (TAS) at container terminals is proposed. While the vast majority of published research analyzes the TAS from the perspective of drayage companies and terminal operations, in this work this topic is centered around truck drivers. The objective of this approach is to show that it is possible to increase the satisfaction of drivers which will maintain the positive effects that the TAS provides to the port. To be more precise, the focus is on exploiting the fact that individual truck drivers perform multiple visits to the container terminal in a day. Based on this information, a scheduling problem is defined and the corresponding integer programming model is developed. The potential benefits of the proposed approach are evaluated for the ports of Los Angeles and the port of Seattle. This has been done by generating problem instances based on the distribution of the number of daily truck visits to the port, number of daily working hours of drivers, and distances (lengths) of individual dray moves for the corresponding ports. The results of the conducted computational experiments show that using the proposed approach can positively affect gate waiting times and truck driver satisfaction. Further, it is shown that this type of approach favors more experienced drivers, which has a potential to provide additional benefits to the port.

Highlights

In the recent decades there has been an astonishing increase in global trade, out of which the vast majority is containerized and transported by the international shipping industry
At container terminals that use a truck appointment systems (TAS), in the general case, there is no special consideration of individual drivers and their needs but drivers make appointments without any constraints in the order they apply for them
The test instances and the OPL code for the integer program can be found at http://mail.ipb.ac.rs/∼rakaj/home/tas.zip

Summary

Introduction

In the recent decades there has been an astonishing increase in global trade, out of which the vast majority is containerized and transported by the international shipping industry. These containers pass through container terminals, which are colossal logistic centers which serve as transshipment points. Due to the high level of dependence of container terminals on large shipping companies, there has been significant research dedicated to optimizing seaside operations. The trucking companies operating inland movement of containers are extremely dependent on the port, and the optimization of related operational procedures has been neglected In recent years, this has started to become a bottle neck for port operations due to long queues appearing at the entry gates. To avoid this type of issues, truck appointment systems (TAS) have been introduced at many ports

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Conclusion