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Operations scheduling for rail mounted gantry cranes in a container terminal yard

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Abstract

Arranging the retrieving sequence and making the operational plans for gantry cranes to enhance port efficiency have become vital issues for the container terminals. In this paper, the problem of retrieving containers from a yard in a given sequence is discussed as an important part of the ship-loading process. This problem is divided into three categories according to its optimization complexity, i.e., the retrieval problem of a crane with a single spreader (ACSS), the retrieval problem of a crane with multiple spreaders (ACMS), and the retrieval problem of multiple cranes with a single spreader (MCSS). Firstly, heuristic algorithms are proposed to develop a retrieving sequence for ACSS to reduce the operational time. Then, optimizing the assignment to multiple spreaders is conducted by exchanging the movements of the obtained retrieving sequence. Finally, the movements are further assigned to two cranes and integrated with the MCSS retrieval problem mentioned above. The numerical experiments show the effectiveness and practicability of the heuristic algorithms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transport Management College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, 116026, Liaoning, China

    Zhan Bian  (边 展), Na Li  (李 娜) & Zhi-hong Jin  (靳志宏)

  2. Information Engineering College, Dalian Ocean University, Dalian, 116023, Liaoning, China

    Xiang-jun Li  (李向军)

Authors
  1. Zhan Bian  (边 展)
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  2. Na Li  (李 娜)
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  3. Xiang-jun Li  (李向军)
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  4. Zhi-hong Jin  (靳志宏)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhi-hong Jin  (靳志宏).

Additional information

Foundation item: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71172108), the Doctoral Program Foundation of Institutions of Higher Education of China (Nos. 20122125110009 and 20132125120009), and the Dalian Science and Technology Project (No. 2012A17GX125)

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Bian, Z., Li, N., Li, Xj. et al. Operations scheduling for rail mounted gantry cranes in a container terminal yard. J. Shanghai Jiaotong Univ. (Sci.) 19, 337–345 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-014-1507-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-014-1507-5

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