Simulation optimization of the berth allocation in a container terminal with flexible vessel priority management

Yıldırım M. S., Aydın M. M., Gökkuş Ü.

Maritime Policy and Management, cilt.47, sa.6, ss.833-848, 2020 (SSCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 47 Sayı: 6
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/03088839.2020.1730994
  • Dergi Adı: Maritime Policy and Management
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Aerospace Database, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Communication Abstracts, EconLit, Environment Index, Geobase, Metadex, PAIS International, Pollution Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, DIALNET, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.833-848
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: arriving vessels, berth allocation problem, container terminals, Port management, simulation optimization
  • Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Solving the berth allocation problem (BAP) in ports is not trivial where the berth resources are limited and various sizes of vessels arrive with dramatically dissimilar loads. Especially in real scenarios, arriving vessels are accepted for a berth with the first come first served (FCFS) priority rule. This study proposes a decision support system coupled with a simulation optimization module based on the swarm-based Artificial Bee Colony optimization algorithm for solving the BAP. The proposed methodology was implemented for the Izmir port in Turkey. To investigate the influences of the vessel priorities on the BAP, four different experimental scenarios based on the single (SQM) and multiple queue models (MQM) were coupled with FCFS and proposed hybrid queue priority (HQP) rule. The results indicated that SQM scenarios were superior to MQM scenarios in a manner of minimizing the average vessel waiting times and the implementation of a dynamic berth allocation strategy for the MQM significantly decreases the vessel waiting times. Results of the SQM also imply that utilization of the HQP approach further minimizes the average vessel waiting times and increases the berth utilization and port throughput without yielding excessive waiting times for the larger vessels compared with the FCFS priority rule.