Multi-equipment integrated scheduling for stereo container terminals

Zhongbin Zhao, Jihong Chen, Mengru Shen, Yuxin Liang, Zheng Wan and Hao Wang

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2025, vol. 201, issue C

Abstract: Global maritime trade drives sustained growth in container throughput, placing terminals under dual challenges of operational efficiency enhancement and limited storage space allocation. Multi-equipment integrated scheduling has become essential for improving the competitiveness of container terminals. However, existing studies face challenges related to high computational complexity and limited global optimization performance, especially in dynamic multi-equipment coordination and large-scale tasks. Scenario innovations and full-process coordination across quayside handling, yard operations, horizontal transport, and transshipment also remain insufficiently addressed. This study proposes a multi-equipment integrated scheduling optimization method for container terminals, incorporating a new type of stereo automated container yard (SCY). A mixed-integer programming model is developed to coordinate operations from the ship-side to the train-side, integrating internal terminal processes with external transshipment. To achieve cooperative scheduling, a three-stage strategy for container slot allocation-scheme enumeration-sequence optimization is introduced. Additionally, an adaptive and genetic algorithm-based differential evolutionary improvement algorithm (GA-based LSHADE-cnEpSin) is applied to optimize the scheduling of innovative equipment, including double trolley and telescopic spreader quay cranes (DQCs), automated guided straddle carriers (ASCs), double cantilever stereo yard cranes (SYCs), and double-stack container trains (DSTs). Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly reduces operating time and energy costs, with its stability and efficiency verified in tasks of varying scales. The novelty of this work lies in an effective multi-equipment integrated scheduling model, a three-stage approach with an GA-based LSHADE-cnEpSin, a dynamic ASC configuration method, and a categorized storage strategy. This study provides a decision support tool for enhancing the intelligence in container terminals, offering both industrial applications and theoretical contributions.

Keywords: Container terminal; Stereo yard; Multi-equipment; Integrated scheduling; Space allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2025.104259

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