الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Maritime transport has a direct impact on international trade. Around 80% of global trade is carried by sea and is handled by ports worldwide. The majority of goods are transported in containers. Seaports are facing a considerable growth in container handling. A seaport container terminal is a place where container ships are loaded and unloaded, and where containers are temporarily stored at container yards for variable periods. When a ship arrives at the port, multiple quay cranes are assigned for loading and discharging containers from ships to trucks. Trucks transport containers between container yards and Quayside. Yard cranes are assigned to store containers at storage locations. The docking time of vessels at the port must be as small as possible. This means that container handling process has to be completed in a short time, with effective use of different resources. Container terminals are facing a set of related optimization problems; Quay Crane Assignment Problem (QCAP), Yard Crane Assignment Problem (YCAP), Truck Assignment Problem, and Storage Space Allocation Problem (SSAP). In container terminals, there are many interrelated NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems and the solution of one of these problems may affect the solution of other related problems. The logistics in container terminals has already reached a high degree of complexity; therefore, the need of optimization in container terminal operation has become more important in recent years. Extensive research has been carried out on these problems separately. As such, they are unable to ensure optimal solution for container handling in container terminal. In addition, solving container terminal problems are facing computational complexity challenges. Thus, an optimized integrated solution for container terminal problems is considered in this research. This research presents a new approach to optimize an integrated solution for container terminal problems; quay crane assignment problem, yard crane assignment problem, truck assignment problem, and storage space allocation problem using optimization techniques based on genetic algorithm and discrete event simulation methodology. A new mathematical model that integrates the activities of a container terminal to minimize the total container handling time in container terminal with effective use of container terminal resources is proposed in this research. Computational experiments are applied by the proposed approach on a real case study data of container terminal at different Egyptian ports. The computational results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach where the docking time of container ships at the port is reduced. |