Turnaround time, defined as the total time spent by a vessel within the port area, is one of the most important key performance measures for a container terminal. In this paper, the authors propose a hybrid approach based on simulation and genetic algorithms to investigate vessels’ turnaround time in a real container terminal under different scenarios characterised by increases in containers …
Despite an increasing number of studies on the efficiency of container terminals, their focus has mostly been on advanced and emerging markets. There are limited studies on container terminals in developing countries such as those of the Middle Eastern region, which are located in a critical geographic position in the international maritime route between the East and the West. Information on th…
Increasing global trade has created the need for efficient container ports. The goal of the port is to move containers as quickly as possible and at the least possible cost. Goods that are delayed at the port are inevitably tardy when delivered to the customer, and thus sanctioned by late charges. Two key activities in the port are (i) unloading of containers from truck and then storage in the …
In 1969 the first of Sydney's purpose-built container facilities in Port Jackson, the Seatainer terminal, became operational. Later, in 1973, the second terminal at Glebe Island, a common-user facility, shared the task of handling the container traffic for much of eastern Australia until the development of the new facilities in Botany Bay. The two terminals differed in almost every respect exce…
This paper addresses a highly researched area, the reshuffling problem in ports, using a newparadigm-modified containership service order in light of credit risk assessment. Container stacking and reshuffling operations can cause ship delays and additional risk. In deep-sea terminals, outbound containers are tightly stacked according to the retrieval sequence. Due to lack of space, terminals st…
In recent years, the Hong Kong port has been challenged by the emergence of the Shenzhen port. This gives rise to a concern that the high terminal handling charges (THC) levied by the Hong Kong terminal operators are undermining the competitiveness of the Hong Kong port. As the major container terminals in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen are operated by the Hong Kong terminal operators, the monopol…
The central subject of this paper is the efficiency of container terminals. Based on a database of European maritime, rail, and barge container terminals a technical efficien- cy analysis has been made. The analysis in this paper demonstrates that large differences in terminal efficiency can be found in Europe among maritime container terminals. Terminals that specialise in containers only perf…
This paper examines the use of single and dual cycle operations for three types of resources, namely, quay cranes, vehicles, and yard cranes to improve the operating efficiency and reduce the energy consumption in a container terminal. Various cycle strategies are proposed and their corresponding estimation models, describing the stowage distributions of outbound and inbound containers on a shi…
Container terminals play a signicant role as representative logistics facilities for contemporary trades by handling outbound, inbound, and transshipment containers to and from the sea (shipping liners) and the hinterland (consignees). Capacity planning is a fundamental decision process when constructing, expanding, or renovating a container terminal to meet the demand, and the outcome of this…
This study looks at the degrees of interference for multiple cranes that work simultaneously at six major container terminals in the port of Kaohsiung. The results con®rm that there are di erent degrees of mutual crane interference among terminals where di erent operational modes are adapted in the container yards. RTG handling systems show a very high value of aggregate cranes exponent f…
A central objective of port privatization and/or deregulation policies is stimulating greater efficiency by engendering a more competitive market and commercial approach to management. Korea provides a prime example of a nation that is implementing such policies. Also, its ports play a pivotal role in world shipping, particularly in the ever-burgeoning container market. The success of these pol…
Dual cycling is an operation technique whereby quay cranes perform loading and unloading operations simultaneously in the same ship bay. In this article, a mixedinteger programming model for quay crane dual-cycling scheduling is developed. The model considers the stowage plan of outbound containers and the operation sequence of quay cranes. To solve the model, a heuristic method, called bi-leve…
This paper aims to examine the inherent problems in the old lease charging system at Busan container terminals, to explore the factors and rationale, both theoretically and practically, for developing a reasonable lease calculation model, and to articulate the design of an efficient lease charging system to enhance throughputs. On the basis of the above achievements, implications for the newly …
In thepastdecades,nearlyalltheChinesecoastalprovincesandmunicipalitiesinvestedheavilyinthe construction ofseaportsandimplementedvariousfavourablepoliciestoimprovetheports'operations. How effectivelyhavetheseeffortsworked?ThispaperusesMalmquistproductivityindextodetermine and analyseproductivitychangeanditsdecompositioninChinesecoastalcontainerterminalsduring 2006–2011.We find thattheaveragegr…
Korea has achieved remarkable economic growth over the last three decades. This has largely been due to the adoption of export-oriented economic policies. This economic development has resulted in a rapid increase in export and import cargoes. Since the foreign trade of Korea is carried predominantly by sea transport (approximately 99.8% in terms of volume), ports play a crucial role in this pr…
In this paper, a Data Envelopment Analysis approach is used to assess the efficiency of cargo-handling operations at a container terminal and study the factors influencing it. The aim is to provide recommendations that would allow a container terminal to reach high technical efficiency scores, in order to increase its inner productivity. A three-stage methodological framework is proposed to ana…
One of the most important operations in marine container terminals is quay crane scheduling. The quay crane scheduling problem (QCSP) involves scheduling groups of containers to be loaded and unloaded by each quay crane. It also requires addressing practical issues such as minimum spacing between quay cranes and precedence relationships between container groups. This study addresses the QCSP wi…
Control of logistics operations at container terminals is an extremely complex task, especially if automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are employed. In AGV dispatching, the stochastic nature of the handling systems must be taken into account. For instance, handling times of quay and stacking cranes as well as release times of transportation orders are not exactly known in advance. We present a sim…
Over the recent years, the use of containers for intercontinental maritime transport has dramatically increased. Figure 1 exhibits the growth of world container turnover. Starting with 50 million twenty feet equivalent unit (TEU) in 1985, world container turnover has reached more than 350 million TEU in 2004. A further continuous increase is expected in the upcoming years, especially between As…
Block widths ranging from two to fifteen rows in a marine container terminal are evaluated by a fully-integrated, discrete event simulation model. Experiments consider dozens of yard configurations and four container terminal settings that are designed to reproduce the microscopic, stochastic, real-time environment at a multiple-berth facility. Results show that the quay crane rate is concave w…
This paper presents the results of nine independent studies that link a seaport container terminal’s long-run average quay crane rate to various strategic and tactical decisions made by the terminal operating company. New numerical results on yard capacity, fleet composition, truck substitutability, and terminal scalability issues are obtained using a fully-integrated, discrete event simulati…
We consider the problem of optimizing the time for loading and unloading containers to and from a ship at a container terminal, where containers are required to be transported by trucks between the ship and their designated locations in the container yard. Anoptimal algorithm and some efficient heuristics are developed to solve the problem with a single quay crane. The effectiveness of the heur…
In this paper the train load planning problem arising in a seaport container terminal is considered. This problem consists in determining the optimal assignment of containers to wagon slots in order to maximize the train utilization and, at the same time, to minimize unproductive operations in the terminal. Different solution approaches based on a mathematical programming model are compared. Th…
Few studies have investigated the quantitative relationship between port ownership structure and port efficiency with mixed results. This study applies a stochastic frontier model proposed by Battese and Coelli [Battese, G.E., Coelli, T.J., 1995. A model for technique inefficiency effects in a stochastic frontier production function for panel data. Empirical Economics 20, 325–332], which inco…
Sustainability has become an important issue in container terminal operations. However, relatively little research has been conducted to assess its association with sustainable supply chainmanagement (SSCM). In this study, SSCM consists of internal sustainability practices and external sustainability collaboration. We empirically examined the effects of internal sustainability practices and ext…
In the relevant literature about container terminals (CTs), most studies focused on the internal operational management of CT operators. In practice, for improving the performance of CT operators, the external customers’ requirements should also be considered. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the improvement of service operations of CTs from users’ requirement perspectives.
Benchmarking of container terminals is an important issue facing port management. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is a multi-factor productivity measurement tool is generally used in assessing the relative efficiency of homogenous units and setting benchmark for inefficient units. Evaluation of container terminals by DEA produces limited set of efficient units which are reference to inef…
The article deals with a current problem faced by all ports: how to enable container terminals to keep up with the development of container ships, which, due to economies of scale, are constantly increasing in size. One solution that can help small container ports solve this problem is a use of a Decision Support Tool (DST). The DST is based on simulations and identifications of the container t…