Abstract
Container terminals have been playing an important role in global transportation and serve as multi-modal interfaces between sea and land transportation. Import containers are those containers that arrive at container terminals from overseas and transship to their destination through inland transport, feeders or wait to be picked up by consignees. As trucks assigned by consignees arrive more or less randomly to pick up specific containers, there is uncertainty about which container will be picked up first, before another one. This uncertainty may result in a great number of unproductive moves. The purpose of this article is to provide terminal operators with a good solution to improve yard crane operation efficiency in container terminals. A booking system for picking up import containers is designed to collect information in advance and to reduce the uncertainty of container pick-up time. The article also analyzes the historical data provided by one container terminal operator in the Port of Kaohsiung, in order to obtain several critical attributes and categorize containers into several groups, according to the predicted pick-up time priority. The results from the application of the booking system and proposed model to categorize import containers into three stacking priorities, integrated with advanced booking time, show that the models are effective and applicable.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alessandri, A., Cervellera, C., Cuneo, M., Gaggero, M. and Soncin, G. (2009) Management of logistics operations in intermodal terminals by using dynamic modelling and nonlinear programming. Maritime Economics and Logistics 11: 58–76.
Cao, B. and Uebe, G. (1995) Solving transportation problems with nonlinear side constraints with tabu search. Computers and Operations Research 22: 593–603.
Chen, T. (1999) Yard operations in the container terminal – A study in the unproductive moves. Maritime Policy and Management 26: 27–38.
Chen, T., Lin, K. and Yuang, Y.C. (2000) Empirical studies on yard operations part 2: Quantifying unproductive moves undertaken in quay transfer operations. Maritime Policy and Management 27: 191–207.
De Castilho, B. and Daganzo, C.F. (1993) Handling strategies for import containers at marine terminals. Transportation Research Part B 27: 151–166.
Dekker, R., Voogd, P. and van Asperen, E. (2006) Advanced methods for container stacking. OR Spectrum 28: 563–586.
Kim, K.H. (1997) Evaluation of the number of re-handles in container yards. Computers and Industrial Engineering 32: 701–711.
Kim, K.H. and Bae, J.-W. (1998) Remarshaling export containers in port container terminals. Computers and Industrial Engineering 35: 655–658.
Kim, K.H. and Kim, H.B. (1999) Segregating space allocation models for container inventories in port container terminals. International Journal of Production Economics 59: 415–423.
Kim, K.H. and Park, K.T. (2003a) A note on a dynamic space-allocation method for outbound containers. European Journal of Operational Research 148: 92–101.
Kim, K.H. and Park, K.T. (2003b) Dynamic space allocation for temporary storage. International Journal of System Science 34: 11–20.
Kim, K.H., Park, Y.M. and Ryu, K.R. (2000) Deriving decision rules to locate export containers in container yards. European Journal of Operational Research 124: 89–101.
Kim, K.Y. and Kim, K.H. (1998) The optimal determination of the space requirement and the number of transfer cranes for import containers. Computers and Industrial Engineering 35: 427–430.
Kozan, E. (2000) Optimizing container transfers at multimodal terminals. Mathematical and Computer Modeling 31: 235–243.
Kozan, E. and Preston, P. (1999) Genetic algorithms to schedule container transfers at multimodal terminals. International Transactions of Operational Research 6: 311–329.
Laik, N. and Hadjiconstantinou, E. (2008) Container assignment and yard crane deployment in a container terminal: A case study. Maritime Economics and Logistics 10: 90–107.
Legato, P., Canonaco, P. and Mazza, R.M. (2009) Yard crane management by simulation and optimisation. Maritime Economics and Logistics 11: 36–57.
Steenken, D., Voß, S. and Stahlbock, R. (2004) Container terminal operation and operations research – A classification and literature review. OR Spectrum 26: 3–49.
Taleb-Ibrahimi, M., Castilho, B. and Daganzo, C.F. (1993) Storage space vs. handling work in container terminals. Transportation Research Part B 27: 13–32.
Vis, I.F.A. and de Koster, R. (2003) Transshipment of containers at a container terminal: An overview. European Journal of Operational Research 147: 1–16.
Zhang, C., Liu, J., Wan, Y.-W., Murty, K.G. and Linn, R.J. (2003) Storage space allocation in container terminals. Transportation Research Part B 37: 883–903.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ting, SC., Wang, JS., Kao, SL. et al. Categorized stacking models for import containers in port container terminals. Marit Econ Logist 12, 162–177 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/mel.2010.4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/mel.2010.4