Automatic Guided Vehicles Introduction Impacts to Roll-On/Roll-Off Terminals: Simulation and Cost Model Analysis

Abstract

Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) have been successfully applied to cargo terminals to reduce operating costs and improve productivity. However, the focus was on container terminal operations. Ports with roll-on/roll-off (RORO) terminals still heavily depend on human resources for the loading/unloading processes. Work operations are affected by human errors and safety issues. In particular, terminals where vehicles cannot be stacked pressure workers to handle cargo more rapidly, which induces more errors. In this study, we propose automating RORO terminal operations by using AGVs. We assessed the impact of AGVs on the productivity, cost efficiency, and environment. A series of simulation models was developed on the basis of the current loading system at an actual port to test the impact of AGVs. Then, we developed a cost model to analyze the economic benefit of AGVs compared with the current loading system. The environmental benefits were also analyzed. Results revealed that a system using 29 AGVs matched the productivity of the current loading system, and using more AGVs increased the productivity. For a given productivity level, the total operating cost of the AGV system was three times less than that of the current system over a 15-year period. The AGV system also showed great potential for improving the environmental friendliness of terminal operations. This is the first study to propose automating RORO terminal operations to improve productivity and sustainability through AGV technology rather than human factors. AGVs are expected to become a good option in the future to address labor shortages and the “untact” era.

Utilizing Amphibious AGVs to Optimize Container Transshipment for Deep Sea and Hinterland Operations

“…The pontoon takes 1.65 minutes to deflate and inflate and this is initiated on the way to the ramp(S.A. S, 2018). This accounted only in the form of a setup/verification time used to check if pontoons are fully inflated and at required pressure(10 PSI) Depending on the length of the ramp, it is expected that the AAGV will spend 1.5 min to 2.5 min on the ramp when taken on a triangular distribution (Park et al, 2023). These assumptions and calculations will also be a part of the phase 4 implementation and validation section.…”

Interaction between a Human and an AGV System in a Shared Workspace—A Literature Review Identifying Research Areas

“…Process improvement [8,34,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] Dangerous environment [53][54][55] Support for human [45,[56][57][58][59][60] Human…”

“…However, the human factor is often primarily identified with ergonomics, which results in the strong focus of the research being on safety issues, with no analysis of the impact on productivity [7]. However, efficiency is an important parameter for assessing the effectiveness of human work in terms of its replacement by automatic and autonomous systems [8].…”

Connected Vehicles and Digital Infrastructures: A Framework for Assessing the Port Efficiency

“…The assessing method was addressed utilizing different KPIs, such as workload, time and distance. Park et al [24] proposed an automated solution with the use of Automatic Guided Vehicles (AVG) for a ro-ro terminal. The model analyzed the economic benefits of introducing AVGs, thus assessing the achieved level of productivity.…”

“…[19] ro-ro DES ARENA Planning Areas Kaceli [20] ro-ro DES ARENA Gate; Yard Capacity Muravev et al [25] ro-ro DES ARENA; AnyLogic Scehduling; Capacity Ozkan et al [21] ro-ro DES not stated Sched. ; Coordination Abourraja et al [22,23] ro-ro DES not stated Bert; Yard Capacity Park et al [24] ro-ro DES not stated AVGs Introduction Sharif et al [26] ro-ro Agent-Based NetLogo Capacity; Info van Vianen et al [28] Multi-Modal DES not stated Stackers operations Parola and Sciomachen [27] Multi Overall, in a long-term perspective, the general architecture presented in the following paragraphs should be considered as a management tool at the services of the public administration and terminal operators to manage ordinary processes and emergencies [50,51]. The architecture is therefore designed to manage four specific aspects such as priority and negotiation, routing info, gate info and yard occupation as follows:…”