Automated Container Terminals Research Articles

Positioning a Handshake Bay for Twin Stacking Cranes in an Automated Container Terminal Yard Block

At automated container terminals (ACTs), twin automated stacking cranes (ASCs) can carry out the tasks—store and retrieve containers simultaneously in a yard block using a handshake bay, where a primary ASC stacks the container at the handshake bay and the other crane carries it to the destination bay. Although the handshake bay increases the degree of crane utilization, the ASCs will interfere with each other at the bay, decreasing the stacking efficiency. This study formulates a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) to position the handshake bay and simultaneously schedule the twin ASCs to minimize the tasks’ makespan. The proposed formulation considers the safe time interval to avoid crane collisions during adjacent crane movements. To solve the model, we developed a random-key genetic algorithm with a priority-based decoding scheme to optimize the task sequences and tasks assigned to the cranes. The priority-based GA can always generate feasible solutions by ranking the container-handling tasks. Numerical experiments prove that the safe temporal interval affects the makespan and the handshake bay’s position. An optimal handshake bay reduces 35% of the makespan compared with a nonoptimal bay, and the proposed algorithm is competitive compared with the on-the-shelf MILP solver and can solve medium- and large-scale instances in short computing time with gaps lower than 5% compared with ideal solutions.

Study on Distributed Consistent Cooperative Control of Multi-ART in Automated Container Terminals

In order to address the congestion problem of vehicles in quay of automated container terminal with parallel layout and side-loading operations, the study regards the terminal operation system as a multi-agent system (MAS), and proposes a dynamic cooperative speed control schema of multi-ART(Artificial Intelligence Robot of Transportation, ) for the purpose of smart and distributed traffic control of container terminals. Via the real-time data interchange and message passing with ART group, the individual ART implements the collaborative speed regulation with the combination of the dynamic speed regulation strategy, so as to adjust the sequence of ARTs arriving at the quay which can decrease the waiting time of ARTs at the quay. Considering the consistency problem of individual and group agent among the dynamic speed regulation of ARTs, a novel distributed consensus protocol is established to assure that the individual status of ART will tend to converge basically during the collaborative speed regulation process, and the convergence of system can be guaranteed. Based on the case of automated container terminal of Tianjin Port, the paper establishes a multi-agent based simulation model, and simulates the decision-making process, and validates the effectiveness of mentioned model and strategy. The results demonstrate that the strategy can decrease the waiting time of ARTs under uncertainty environment of port and improve the operation efficiency of system.

Improving crane routes in automated container terminals: a complex network approach

The storage yard plays a key role in automated container terminals. This paper aims to shed new light on the planning of yard operations through the use of graph theory. Although complex graphs can be a very useful tool for planning yard operations, previous research has not addressed this issue yet. Given a theoretical representation of the storage yard as a small world model (Kleinberg's model), it is proposed a two-step method to improve crane routes on the yard. In the first step, a cluster detection technique is used to reveal the well-connected groups of nodes (ground slots). In the second step the crucial transition nodes between the groups are determined (bridge nodes). This study suggests that the terminal could gain efficiency in the long term by focusing on groups and bridge nodes.

Battery-Powered Automated Guided Vehicles Scheduling Problem in Automated Container Terminals for Minimizing Energy Consumption

Battery-Powered Automated Guided Vehicles Scheduling Problem in Automated Container Terminals for Minimizing Energy Consumption

Improving crane routes in automated container terminals: a complex network approach

Improving crane routes in automated container terminals: a complex network approach

Integrated Scheduling of Automatic Guided Vehicles and Automatic Stacking Cranes in Automated Container Terminals Considering Landside Buffer Zone

Integrated Scheduling of Automatic Guided Vehicles and Automatic Stacking Cranes in Automated Container Terminals Considering Landside Buffer Zone

The Three-Stage Integrated Optimization of Automated Container Terminal Scheduling Based on Improved Genetic Algorithm

This paper proposes an improved GA (genetic algorithm)-based integrated optimization of automated container terminal scheduling. The three-stage integrated optimization model of automated container terminal scheduling is suggested, and the objective is the minimal operation time of the loading and unloading tasks at the automated container terminal. To solve the difficult combination problem, an improved GA, which is named PGA (Probability Genetic Algorithm), is developed. As traditional GA does not change the probability according to the specific iterations in the population, PGA improves the above limitation to improve population distribution and accelerate convergence. Different from published literature, the study of this paper can be presented in two aspects. One is in the modeling; it includes (i) formalizing the description of the purpose of the model and (ii) having a real-world coordination of three types of equipment that are incorporated at automated container terminals. The other is that PGA is applied to deal with the integrated scheduling whose results can be gotten with better solving speed and convergence. Numerical experiments show that the model constructed in this paper has important reference value for the optimum ratio of QCs, AGVs, and ASCs in automated container operation, which is of great significance to improve the efficiency of the automated terminal. Furthermore, compared with the results of traditional GA and PSO (particle swarm optimization), the speed and convergence of PGA have been greatly improved.

Simulation study on terminal layout in automated container terminals from efficiency, economic and environment perspectives

Terminal layout design is an important strategic decision to obtain efficient automated container terminals. Recently, several types of layout design are being implemented to realize side-loading operations, such as U-type and parallel layout design for bilateral-cantilever automated rail-mounted gantry cranes. However, it is lack of a comprehensive comparation with perpendicular layout design for non-cantilever gantry cranes, which allows end-loading operations. Besides, the impact of layout design on terminal performance, such as annual throughput, ship waiting time and operation efficiency of quay cranes, is still not well understood and needs to be estimated in the planning phases of automated terminals. Thus, this study conducts a detailed simulation research on different types of layout design to compare their terminal performance. Novel agent-based simulation models are developed, which incorporate side-loading and end-loading operations under different types of layout design. And simulation-based energy consumption and cost models are developed to evaluate their energy consumption and total cost. Results indicate that U-type automated terminals gain the lowest energy consumption and operation cost, and outperform those with perpendicular layout in terms of operation efficiency and waiting time in most cases. The valuable reference regarding layout design is identified for terminal operators to make strategic decisions.

Automated Container Terminal Production Operation and Optimization via an AdaBoost-Based Digital Twin Framework

Digital twin (DT), machine learning, and industrial Internet of things (IIoT) provide great potential for the transformation of the container terminal from automation to intelligence. The production control in the loading and unloading process of automated container terminals (ACTs) involves complex situations, which puts forward high requirements for efficiency and safety. To realize the real-time optimization and security of the ACT, a framework integrating DT with the AdaBoost algorithm is proposed in this study. The framework is mainly composed of physical space, a data service platform, and virtual space, in which the twin space and service system constitute virtual space. In the proposed framework, a multidimensional and multiscale DT model in twin space is first built through a 3D MAX and U3D technology. Second, we introduce a random forest and XGBoost to compare with AdaBoost to select the best algorithm to train and optimize the DT mechanism model. Third, the experimental results show that the AdaBoost algorithm is better than others by comparing the performance indexes of model accuracy, root mean square error, interpretable variance, and fitting error. In addition, we implement empirical experiments by different scales to further evaluate the proposed framework. The experimental results show that the mode of the DT-based terminal operation has higher loading and unloading efficiency than that of the conventional terminal operation, increasing by 23.34% and 31.46% in small-scale and large-scale problems, respectively. Moreover, the visualization service provided by the DT system can monitor the status of automation equipment in real time to ensure the safety of operation.

Some Problems Related To The Exploitation Of Automated Container Terminals

Automation is considered as the basis for the introduction of the fourth industrial revolution in ports and for the implementation of a number of innovations. Often the actual results of container terminal automation do not match the expectations of terminal operators. Through the application of scientific methods of investigation – monitoring, comparative analysis, analysis and synthesis of existing publications on the subject – some problematic issues have been established, such as the lack of common standards, pressure by trade unions, processing of exceptions, etc., calling into question the implementation of any good automated terminal project. The synergistic approach in the modeling, construction and exploitation of automated container terminals leads to the conclusion that, on one hand, a solution to the above issues should be sought in the cooperation between all port stakeholders (automation system manufacturers, software developers, terminal and logistics operators, carriers). On the other hand, the competitiveness of automated container terminals depends on the skills of the port specialists. They must be prepared for the monitoring, analysis and management of automated systems, they must be adequately qualified for the integration of systems and for the processing of exceptions, they must be able to foresee the consequences of each of their actions for the whole system.

Noisy Optimization of Dispatching Policy for the Cranes at the Storage Yard in an Automated Container Terminal

In this paper, we claim that the operation schedule of automated stacking cranes (ASC) in the storage yard of automated container terminals can be built effectively and efficiently by using a crane dispatching policy, and propose a noisy optimization algorithm named N-RTS that can derive such a policy efficiently. To select a job for an ASC, our dispatching policy uses a multi-criteria scoring function to calculate the score of each candidate job using a weighted summation of the evaluations in those criteria. As the calculated score depends on the respective weights of these criteria, and thus a different weight vector gives rise to a different best candidate, a weight vector can be deemed as a policy. A good weight vector, or policy, can be found by a simulation-based search where a candidate policy is evaluated through a computationally expensive simulation of applying the policy to some operation scenarios. We may simplify the simulation to save time but at the cost of sacrificing the evaluation accuracy. N-RTS copes with this dilemma by maintaining a good balance between exploration and exploitation. Experimental results show that the policy derived by N-RTS outperforms other ASC scheduling methods. We also conducted additional experiments using some benchmark functions to validate the performance of N-RTS.

A Simulation Based Meta-heuristic Approach for the Inbound Container Housekeeping Problem in the Automated Container Terminals

ABSTRACT We study an inbound container housekeeping problem in an automated container terminal. We propose an integer programming model to characterize the problem and provide a meta-heuristic algorithm to solve it. To tackle the random factors in the future retrieval process, a simulation module is embedded in the process of evaluating the objective value. By computational experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our method. Moreover, we also conduct sensitivity analysis to examine the impacts of different algorithm parameters.

Modelling of integrated scheduling problem of capacitated equipment systems with a multi-lane road network.

The coordination of different container-handling equipment is an important method for improving the overall efficiency of automated container terminals. In the real terminal, we should consider many real-life issues, such as the equipment capacity, the equipment collision, changing lanes in the multi-lane road, and choosing one of container-handling lanes for each container. This paper proposes the integrated scheduling problem of three container-handling equipment with the capacity constraint and the dual-cycle strategy, for simultaneously solving the equipment scheduling problem, the assignment problem of the container-handling lane and the conflict-free route planning problem of automated guided vehicles (AGVs). With the objective of minimizing the ship’s berth time, we propose a mixed-integer programming model based on the space-time network representation method and two bilevel optimization algorithms based on conflict resolution rules. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and two bilevel optimization algorithms.

Vision-Based Measurement: Actualities and Developing Trends in Automated Container Terminals

An automated container terminal (ACT) is a cutting-edge type of container terminal that uses automated equipment and sensors to achieve autonomous applications such as container loading/unloading, horizontal transportation, and yard operations. It has integrated state-of-the-art sensing technologies, ensuring low operating costs, high throughput capacity, and enhanced management security. Vision-based measurement (VBM) is an especially advanced technology that obtains richer surrounding information from captured image data in comparison with other technologies. Due to its great potential capabilities, it has played a critically important role in ACT to realize productive vision-based tasks, e.g., target recognition, positioning, and geometric determination. This paper generally presents an overview of a VBM system, typical applications of VBM systems in ACT, as well as the challenges and future development trends of VBM in ACT.

Economic Analysis for Investment of Public Sector’s Automated Container Terminal: Korean Case Study

The purpose of this case study is to conduct an economic analysis to calculate the proper terminal capacity of automated container terminal (ACT) investment from the perspective of the public sector. As a key element of smart port, the ACT is an important terminal operating facility for import/export and transshipment cargo between countries and must have facilities with sufficient capacity to load/unload export/import cargo in a timely manner according to the user’s request. Recently, the method of calculating the capacity of seaport infrastructure is changing from the method of applying the maximum capacity to the method of applying the proper capacity. Therefore, it is desirable to expand port facilities by investigating proper capacity rather than expanding port facilities based on the maximum performance. This study is a case study focusing on the new port of Busan introducing the ACT. From the perspective of national fiscal income and national economy from the ACT investment, this study determines the proper terminal capacity for each berth. As a result of economic analysis, the break-even terminal capacity to secure economic feasibility is from 544,272TEU of the nine berths to 600,138TEU of two berths applying a 2.96% discount ratio. In a sensitivity analysis considering the social discount rate and the change in the size of berths, the net present value has a positive value from a minimum of 530,000 TEU (nine berths with 1.96% social discount ratio) to a maximum of 620,000 TEU (three berths with 3.46% social discount ratio).

The inbound container space allocation in the automated container terminals

In this paper, we study an inbound container space allocation problem in the automated container terminals using simulation-embedded optimization. We aim to allocate the container terminal yard space for a batch of arrived inbound containers so as to minimize the total AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) waiting time in the space allocation process and the external truck waiting time in the future container retrieval process. We propose an integer programming model to characterize the problem and prove the NP-hardness of the problem. A simulation module is employed to estimate the container rehandle number happened in the retrieval process. A simulation-embedded genetic algorithm is developed to solve the problem. Numerical experiment results show that (1) The proposed algorithm can significantly affect the performance of the allocation decision and achieve a trade-off between fast computation and good solution quality. (2) The space allocation schemes of the inbound containers are affected by different factors, such as initial block layout, quantity of arriving containers, and containers’ arriving information. (3) The automated container terminal operators who care about the external truck waiting time may consider the simulation-embedded approach when the block yard is congested.

Development and Suggestions on Container Twist Lock Handling in Automated Container Terminals

In this paper automated container terminals were introduced and characteristics of the automated container terminals were summarized. Besides, a common problem of twist lock handling technology in automated container terminal was proposed. different kinds of automatic twist lock handling technologies and equipment were collected and analyzed. Finally, suggestions on twist lock handling were given. With demands of automated container terminals, the twist lock handling technology will still rapidly develop in future.

On the scheduling of handling equipment in automated container terminals

On the scheduling of handling equipment in automated container terminals

On the scheduling of handling equipment in automated container terminals

On the scheduling of handling equipment in automated container terminals

The global trends of automated container terminal: a systematic literature review

Purpose Since the first automated container terminal (ACT) was introduced at Europe Container Terminals Delta Terminal in Port Rotterdam back in the year 1992, a lot of research had been done to improve the management of ACT. However, up until recently, the number of literature available still appeared scarce. Hence, this paper aims to review the collection of literature about ACT to generate an exhaustive summary to answer the formulated review question in this study. Design/methodology/approach Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses to narrow down the search parameters of literature retrieved so that only relevant articles were only selected. The systematic literature reviews were applied to analyse the content of the articles retrieved to determine its journal ranking, research findings and timeline of publications. Findings The adoption of ACT technology by container terminal operators could increase the terminal efficiency in productivity, cost reduction and environmental sustainability. Owing to global environmental awareness, the research trend of container terminal field and container terminal operator in the terminal design is much more environmentally friendly oriented. Research limitations/implications The limited numbers of experts in the management of ACT are causing challenges in data collections. Practical implications The analysis of the global ACT trend could help academicians and industrial investors to review the revolution timeline of maritime technology in port and shipping that is happening rapidly. Originality/value The analysis of timeline and collective literature leads to the propose of the conceptual framework to determine the relationship between increased productivity, cost reduction and environmentally sustainable.