Planning Organization and Productivity Simulation Tool for Maritime Container Terminals

Abstract

Abstract. The article describes a proposed planning organization and productivity simulation tool, with a special emphasis on orientations to the optimization of operations in a maritime container terminal. With the application of an adequate model frame for traffic and technical-technologic forecasting, infrastructure and manpower planning and productivity simulation are possible to measure and increase the productivity in the whole subsystem of the maritime container terminal. The emphasis is mainly put on setting up planning organization in order to collect important information and consequently to raise productivity. This is the main task and goal of terminal management that must develop elements and strategies for optimal operational and financial production. An adequate planning structure must use simplified but efficient simulation tools enabling owners and management to take a vast number of adequate financial and operational decisions. Considering all important and very dynamic facts in container and shipping industry, the proposed simulation tool gives a helpful instrument for checking productivity and its time variation and monitoring a competitive position of a certain maritime terminal with the terminals from the same group. Therefore, the management of every maritime container terminal must establish an appropriate internal planning system as a mechanism for strategic decision support relating basically to the assessment of the best development and optimization solutions for the infrastructure and suprastructure of the entire system.

Business process management in the port sector: a literature review

“…Therefore, it proposes an object-oriented architecture of a port model and a visual model specification technique based on reusable library blocks. Similarly, Beškovnik and Twrdy (2010) propose a container terminal planning organization and productivity simulation tool and argue that Business process management the application of an adequate model frame can possibly measure and increase the productivity of the whole maritime container terminal subsystem. Elbert et al (2017) introduce the concept of order process efficiency hence processing times and costs.…”

The Influence of Yard Trucks on Berth Operations in Smaller Container Terminals

“…The efficiency of processes on the berth subsystem depends in large part on the number and type of utilized horizontal mechanization and the strategy of their coordination between the berth and storage areas. In a container terminal, the most important problem is the coordination between the loading and unloading operations of the vessels and the storage of the containers in the yard [1]. In order to shorten the ship's time in the port, it is first necessary to allocate the correct number of QCs to a ship.…”

“…Such simulations are of high practical relevance for terminals that want to know how big their horizontal fleet has to be in order to assure good berth productivity and in so allow the ship to leave the port quickly. 1 Five YTs per QC are most often used in smaller container ports. 2 Ten YTs gave us relevant differences in comparison with five YTs per QC.…”

“…The decisions taken by the carriers are directly affecting the productivity of the terminal system and its efficiency. They can change the vessel size in a service or even chose to leave the port with just a few weeks' notice [1]. Smaller ports are therefore forced to provide better terminal capacities and good operational productivity if they want to preserve the existing services or provide new ones.…”

A Decision Support Tool for Container Terminal Optimization Within the Berth Subsystem

“…The first five ports serve as a successful example for the smaller ports as they represent major ports of which throughput in 2012 exceeded one million TEUs, as well as transhipment ports. They are acting on the market as important regional and global shifting points (Beškovnik, Twrdy 2010). The second group mostly consists of the ports of which throughput in 2012 did not exceed 500000 TEUs and are therefore considered as smaller container ports with a regional transport function.…”