Sea Freight Containers Research Articles

Sustainable truck platooning operations in maritime shipping: A data-driven approach

In liner shipping, stakeholders are increasingly committed to adopting autonomous and environmentally friendly transportation solutions, especially for truck operations managing container transfers. Beyond reducing labor costs, truck platooning technology—which enables autonomous trucks to operate in close formations, thereby significantly decreasing fuel consumption—promises to revolutionize fleets involved in maritime container transport. However, the potential of these benefits hinges on the process of developing and implementing optimization plans that address the specific challenges of container logistics, particularly in integrating truck platooning plans. In response to this need, this study extends the traditional instant-dispatch strategy by proposing a novel, data-driven dispatch strategy. We develop algorithms for both models and conduct extensive experiments focusing on truck operations for sea freight containers. Our findings reveal significant advantages of the data-driven dispatch strategy: it substantially reduces the total costs and fuel consumption associated with truck deliveries compared to the instant-dispatch strategy.

Use of Ethyl Formate Fumigation to Control Adult Bean Thrips in Navel Oranges.

Shipments of California Navel oranges (Citrus sinensis) (Osbeck)) that are found to be infested with adult bean thrips (Caliothrips fasciatus (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)) upon arrival in Australia either undergo mandatory fumigation with methyl bromide (MeBr) to kill the thrips or are refused entry. Ethyl formate (EtF) mixed with carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an effective fumigant for control of various arthropods including but not limited to, thrips, aphids, Pacific spider mites, California red scale, and omnivorous leaf rollers. Dose-mortality curves at 5°C, 10°C, and 15°C were developed for control of adult bean thrips using EtF plus CO₂, with 5°C being more effective. In further testing, the efficacy of EtF plus CO₂ against adult bean thrips in Navel oranges and the impact on fruit quality after fumigation followed by 5 wk of storage at 5°C and shelf life at 20°C was determined. Fruit fumigated with 31 g/m3 EtF plus CO₂ at 5°C for 1 h showed no difference in quality compared with untreated control fruit. Ethyl formate plus CO₂ fumigation efficacy was confirmed in a 27.32 m3 sea freight container with eight pallets of packed Navel oranges (load factor 28.69%) and 10,000-15,000 adult bean thrips in each of three replications. Complete control of adult bean thrips was achieved with no negative effects on fruit quality.

A genetic algorithm for solving the quay crane scheduling and allocation problem

International sea-freight container transportation has grown dramatically over the last years and container terminals represent nowadays a key actor in the global shipping network. The management of a container terminal is a complex process that involves many decisions. Among the problems to be solved, there are the spatial allocation of containers on the terminal yard, allocation of ships to berths and cranes, scheduling priorities and operations in order to minimize ship’s turnaround time, one of the main indicators of the terminal performance for the shipping companies. An efficient use of quay cranes is crucial, since quay cranes are highly expensive and represent one of the most scarce resources in the terminal. The quay crane allocation problem aims to efficiently assign quay cranes to vessels that must be operated over a given time horizon. The allocated cranes must be sufficient to complete the workload within the given time window, although many configurations are possible. In this paper, we will mainly focus on the quay crane scheduling problem, considering other logistic activities as given. This problem can be split into two sub-problems. First, specific quay cranes must be assigned to specific tasks. Second, a detailed schedule of the loading and unloading moves for each quay crane should be constructed. In this case, the number of quay cranes assigned to the vessel is assumed to be known in advance. The paper presents a solution for solving the quay crane scheduling and allocation problem that is based on working with modern optimization techniques such as genetic algorithms. The genetic algorithms are soft computing techniques that are used for optimization and search. Thus, the solution is obtained through a C++ built on simulation model that, over the analytical modelling of container’s terminals activity, has the main advantage of providing a greater level of detail and avoids too many simplifications. Also, three different scenarios that describe operational situations have been taken into account.

China introduces the 24-hour rule

Recently, international movement of cargo had been the subject of increasing border control measures that may be causing tension between the needs for security and the needs for trade facilitations. On the one hand customs authorities are charged with the responsibility for policing a country's borders, and consequently they need to have in place measures to ensure that only legitimate trade takes place and that this trade does not present security concerns. On the other hand we have the requirements of traders, who benefit from an environment of trade facilitation with speedy and efficient movement of cargo across international borders, with minimal bureaucratic intervention. This paper focuses on and provides early discussion and comments on the possible ramifications of the introduction of the 24-hour rule in China, effective for all exports and imports of sea freight container traffic since January 1, 2009. The new rules will have significant impact on the logistics flows of exporters and importers alike. Specifically, the reporting requirements timelines are likely to result in increased costs in cargo processing at wharves that traders will have to bear; place added pressure on storage facilities at wharves, or at container depots; and may additionally increase the amount of inventory buffer because of the timing of the data reporting requirements. The paper concludes that security needs have prevailed over trade facilitation considerations and that traders should urgently implement a review of existing practices to ensure they comply with the China Customs requirements, whilst simultaneously minimizing cost increases.

A heuristic for sea-freight container selection, cargo allocation and cargo orientation

A model is proposed to generate solutions for container selection, for the allocation of cargo to containers, and for cargo orientation within a container. The model is in the form of a mixed integer program with the objective of minimizing the total shipping cost. The practical requirements of loading priority and weight distribution along the main dimension of the container are incorporated into the model. A heuristic solution strategy is proposed and used to control the computation time by pre-setting the search increments. Three case examples are presented. The first and third examples show that the proposed model can produce a better solution than the manual schedulers. The second example is taken from the literature and is compared with the solution generated by the proposed model, demonstrating that the practical considerations incorporated into the model do not necessarily lead to increased shipping costs.

PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES FOR BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER AND HEAD LETTUCES

There is a potential market for Australian vegetables in distant markets if they arrive in good condition and with adequate shelf life at a competitive price. Sea freight is slower than air freight but has cost advantages and offers good temperature control. In addition, sea freight containers which provide a modified atmosphere (MA) or controlled atmosphere (CA) can potentially increase product storage life compared to air alone. However, as loads often contain two or more types of vegetables, the storage atmosphere used may need to suit multiple products. We examined how quality attributes of broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce deteriorated during storage in different atmospheres with a view to shipping these products from Australia to the United Arab Emirates, a journey of approximately 23 days. Products were stored in 11% O 2 + 10% CO 2 , 2% O 2 + 2% CO 2 , humidified air or commercial packaging in air. Quality attributes were evaluated after 3, 4, 5 or 6 weeks storage at 0.3°C and again following 2 days simulated shelf life at 20°C. It was estimated that broccoli could be stored for a maximum of 3 weeks in crushed ice, 4 weeks in humidified air or 5 weeks under a controlled or modified atmosphere and still retain good outturn quality and adequate shelf life. Cauliflower storage life was increased from 4 weeks to 5 weeks by storage in 2% O 2 + 2% CO 2 . Lettuce did not benefit from CA and had the most variable quality of the vegetables tested. It was concluded that there are only marginal benefits of using CA or MA to ship broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce from Australia to Dubai. Air storage at 0.3°C should provide good outturn condition and adequate shelf life so long as products are handled correctly and water loss is minimised.

A heuristic for dynamic yard crane deployment in a container terminal

Rubber Tired Gantry Cranes (RTGCs) are the most widely used pieces of equipment in the Hong Kong sea-freight container yards. Workload distribution in the yard changes continuously over time. The dynamic deployment of RTGCs is an important issue in yard operation management. This paper investigates the dynamic crane deployment problem with the objective of determining the crane deployment frequency and routes over a planning horizon to minimize the total workload overflow. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming model. A heuristic algorithm is then developed to solve problems of practical sizes. The heuristic quickly finds a near optimal solution for crane deployment operation.

132 Semi-commercial-scale Ultra-low Oxygen Storage for Disinfestation of Mexican Fruit Fly in Grapefruit

A treatment schedule for disinfesting grapefruit of Mexican fruit fly with refrigerated (14 °C) storage for 21 days in ultra-low oxygen (0.05 kPa) was tested using a fully loaded, 24-ft sea freight container. The objective of this research was 3-fold: 1) evaluate the ability of a free standing Electronic Oxygen Control system to maintain 500 ppm of oxygen for 21 days inside the sealed container, 2) evaluate the mortality of third instar Mexican fruit fly larvae stored for 21 days inside the sealed container, and 3) evaluate fruit market quality after 21 days inside the container. The container was loaded with 17 pallets of red-fleshed, `Rio Star' grapefruit. Three boxes from each pallet were evaluated for fruit quality (decay (%), visible disorders (%)) after 21 days of treatment and again after 14 additional days of storage in air at 10 °C. Four cartons, each containing 24 fruit infested with third instar, Mexican fruit fly larvae, were each placed on top of a pallet in four different container locations. Upon completion of treatment, larvae were evaluated for survival. In the first replication, no fruit fly larvae survived the low oxygen treatment. In the second replication, oxygen concentration was less controlled, and 60 pupae survived the treatment. Treated and control grapefruit had similar incidence of decay when the treatment was terminated, however no sporulation was observed in fruit stored under ultra-low oxygen. Grapefruit exposed to ultra-low oxygen had a higher incidence of visible disorders, consisting of darkened, sunken areas on the fruit surface. It is unclear whether this damage is attributed to fluctuating levels of oxygen, deleterious volatiles produced during treatment, or a sensitivity of the fruit to low oxygen.

Examination of sea freight containers using modern electron linear accelerators

Electron linear accelerators and scintillation line detectors were studied as major components of a transmission scanning system to check the contents of standard sea containers. A maximum beam energy of 10 MeV was found to be the best compromise of high penetration capability of the bremsstrahlung and the WHO recommendations for irradiation of food. CsI(Tl) scintillation detectors turned out to be very efficient and reliable for this rugged application. The results obtained in full size prototype systems are discussed.