Integrated Simulation-based Optimization of Operational Decisions at Container Terminals

Abstract

At container terminals, many cargo handling processes are interconnected and take place in parallel. Within short time windows, many operational decisions need to be taken considering both time and equipment efficiency. During operation, many sources for disturbance exist. These are the reason why perfectly coordinated processes are possibly unraveled. An approach that considers disturbance factors while optimizing a given objective is simulation-based optimization.
 This study analyses simulation-based optimization as a procedure 
 to simultaneously scale the number of utilized equipment 
 and to adjust the choice and tuning of operational policies.
 The four meta-heuristics Tree-structured Parzen Estimator, Bayesian Optimization, Simulated Annealing, and Random Search guide the simulation-based optimization process. The results show that simulation-based optimization is suitable to identify the amount of required equipment and well-performing policies. Thereby, there is no clear ranking which of the meta-heuristics finds the best approximation of the optimum. The approximated optima suggest that pooling terminal trucks as well as a yard block assignment close to the quay crane is preferable. With an increasing number of quay cranes, the number of optimal terminal trucks for each quay crane decreases as well as the range of truck utilization within one experiment.

The dynamics of a maritime container terminal complex system: optimization process design

“…Simulation-based optimization defined as the method "for evaluating system performance for a given configuration, while the optimization algorithm explores alternative configurations as a function of space and identifies the optimal setting" [7] . Simulation-based optimization is applied in practice as a screening procedure [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], 13] .…”

“…From a microeconomic perspective, the implementation of such supply chains is a big challenge because it means involving a large number of operators, with different specializations, whose activity must be synchronized and coordinated. It is recommended that the smart decision support functionality on the sequence of container handling operations in the terminal to allow subordination planning the operation of containers in the terminal in relation to the objectives transmitted by the central system with regarding the terms of directing the containers to other terminals or to the recipients [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”