Simulation-Based Planning and Control of Transport Flows in Port Logistic Systems

Antonio Diogo Passos Lima,Frederico Werner De Mascarenhas,Enzo Morosini Frazzon

doi:10.1155/2015/862635

Antonio Diogo Passos Lima, Frederico Werner De Mascarenhas + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/862635

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Abstract

In highly dynamic and uncertain transport conditions, transport transit time has to be continuously monitored so that the service level is ensured at a proper cost. The aim of this research is to propose and to test a procedure which allows an agile planning and control of transport flows in port logistic systems. The procedure couples an agent-based simulation and a queueing theory model. In this paper, the transport scheduling performed by an agent at the intermodal terminal was taken into consideration. The decision-making agent takes into account data which is acquired in remote points of the system. The obtained results indicate the relevance of continuously considering, for the transport planning and control, the expected transit time and further waiting times along port logistic systems.

Highlights

Disturbances of internal or external origin can impact the reliability of freight transport
Bittencourt [4] has stated that the logistic port model to send and receive cargo usually consists of port operators making time windows available, in which each shipper sends their vehicles into the port
The transport schedule did not take into account an evaluation of the expected transport transit time, in other words, did not evaluate the processing time at the bottleneck

Summary

Introduction

Disturbances of internal or external origin can impact the reliability of freight transport. Among the disorders which can impact the stability of transport flows two stand out: traffic congestion due to the increasing traffic of vehicles and delays in the decision making process. Notwithstanding these occurrences which indicate capacity constraints, it is likely that the overall logistic infrastructure is still not used optimally in full. According to Hijjar and Alexim [2], when port access is inefficient, the entire cargo transport operation is damaged because bottlenecks in the entrance of the port terminal can result in delays and extra need for storage, increasing the total logistic cost. Studies on new port logistic methods which enable rationalizing vehicle traffic and optimizing port cargo load meet the current need to improve road infrastructures, stimulating greater control and improvements in the national logistic scenario [5, 6]

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Conclusion