Optimal stack layout in a sea container terminal with automated lifting vehicles

Akash Gupta, Debjit Roy, René de Koster and Sampanna Parhi

International Journal of Production Research, 2017, vol. 55, issue 13, 3747-3765

Abstract: Container terminal performance is largely determined by its design decisions, which include the number and type of quay cranes, stack cranes, transport vehicles, vehicle travel path and stack layout. We investigate the orientation of the stack layout (parallel or perpendicular to the quayside) on the throughput time performance of the terminals. Previous studies in this area typically use deterministic optimisation, and a few studies use probabilistic travel times and simulation to analyse the effect of stack layout on terminal throughput times. In this research, we capture the stochasticity with an integrated queuing network modelling approach to analyse the performance of container terminals with parallel stack layout using automated lifting vehicles. Using this analytical model, we investigate 1008 parallel stack layout configurations on throughput times and determine the optimal stack layout configuration. We find that, assuming an identical width of the internal transport area, container terminals with parallel stack layout perform better (from 4–12% in terms of container throughput times) than terminals with a perpendicular stack layout.

Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00207543.2016.1273561 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:55:y:2017:i:13:p:3747-3765

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TPRS20

DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2016.1273561

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Research is currently edited by Professor A. Dolgui

More articles in International Journal of Production Research from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().