Reduction of exceeding the guaranteed service time for external trucks at the DCT Gdańsk container terminal using a six sigma framework

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate ways to reduce the average amount of exceeded guaranteed service time for external trucks at Deepwater Container Terminal Gdańsk Sp z o.o. (DCT Gdańsk) via dosing the gate activities, in particular IN-Gate entry process, of trucks carrying import/export/transit containers. Design/methodology/approach A Six Sigma methodology with the define, measure, analyze, improve, and Control (DMAIC) methods along with the SIPOC chart, cause and effect diagram, scatterplot, benchmark and brainstorming and finally multi-voting tool are used as analyses tools in this research. Findings DCT Gdańsk reorganized and modernized the gate operations. Gate reorganization and modernization include streaming line traffic at the gates, external parking lot optimization, implementation of dedicated supporting software and installation of dedicated CCTV cameras to provide 24 h live view. During gates development, the external truck service times data were collected and analysed. The obtained materials concerned the measurement of the average truck turnaround time before and after the implementation of the improvements. Originality/value The proposed approach of reducing the average amount of exceeded guaranteed service time of external trucks at the container terminal is unique and relatively cheap mainly due to organizational changes with some widely available low-cost investments and can be applied on a different scale to other container terminals or to transport and logistics companies.

Simulation-Based Approach to a More Efficient Handling Strategy for a Container Terminal Storage Yard: Case Study of the Baltic Hub Container Terminal

“…Enhancing ship productivity does not hinge solely on expanding the number or speed of the transport vehicles in the port, since the likelihood of congestion around the cranes and within the yard increases more than proportionally to the number of vehicles or their speed. Hence, the development of an optimisation system must also consider the minimisation of traffic congestion, as described in [9,10], as this contributes a major proportion of the pollutant emissions in terminals [11]. Moreover, various means of transportation and strategies for allocating vehicles to cranes are used in the port.…”