Frame Trolley Dispatching Algorithm for the Frame Bridge Based Automated Container Terminal

Xin Jia Jiang (), Yanhua Xu (), Chenhao Zhou (), Ek Peng Chew () and Loo Hay Lee ()
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Xin Jia Jiang: College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 210016 Nanjing, China
Yanhua Xu: Shunfeng Technology, 200030 Shenzhen, China
Chenhao Zhou: Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077
Ek Peng Chew: Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077
Loo Hay Lee: Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077

Transportation Science, 2018, vol. 52, issue 3, 722-737

Abstract: This paper studies the container handling process for a newly designed container terminal, known as the Frame Bridge based Automated Container Terminal (FB-ACT). The system was shown to be an effective solution to the next generation container terminal, but its efficiency depends on the dispatching of frame trolleys (FTs), which transport containers along the apron. We address the FT dispatching problem to ensure conflict-free movements, while considering the handshakes with other devices in the system. A mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is formulated to minimize the makespan considering FT conflicts and handshakes. An algorithm based on filtered beam search is developed to solve the problem. In this algorithm, two filtering approaches are used to guide the search for beam nodes at each level. The first approach uses a surrogate model to effectively screen out the less promising nodes. Then, the second approach uses a reduced MIP model to further identify the beam nodes for the next level. Numerical experiments show that our proposed algorithm yields near-optimal solutions in small-scale problems. In large-scale problems, our algorithm significantly outperforms two other algorithms based on first come, first served (FCFS) or FCFS with dedicated vehicle assignment. Some interesting insights about the FB-ACT system are also shown in the study.

Keywords: automated container terminal; multiresource conflict-free dispatching; filtered beam search (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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