Container Terminal Operating Line Scheduling Decision Support System

With rapid advances of container transportation, an effective production and control system, together with reliable (un)loading facilities, is demanding for the purpose of container terminal operation, so as to increase its efficiency yet reduce the vessel-in-port time. In this regard, the information system should be exploited and employed from an operational level to a decision-making level. Amongst current researches pertaining to intelligent production systems, the domestic work has focused on such issues as the productivity of berths, allocation of (un)loading facilities, and selection of (un)loading processes. Although production scheduling is treated as a critical issue of (un)loading efficiency of container terminal logistics systems, the relevant research is still lacking. Nevertheless, the quayside cranes scheduling, the start point of production scheduling, secures the first position in an entire operation system. The scheduling quality directly influences the efficiency of container terminal operations, shipping date of container vessels, and reputation of port enterprises. Hence, even if the same container vessel, container quantity and container yard occur, operation quality will probably be different due to the differences of technological level and staff competence of a container terminal. Currently, the operation efficiency is mainly resulted from experiences of scheduling staffs. As such, to further investigate and upgrade existing approaches towards quayside cranes scheduling becomes an imperative.In this dissertation, a dynamic coordinating and scheduling approach is first postulated for quayside cranes scheduling. This approach is proposed based on surveys upon such as Shanghai Ming-Dong Container Terminal (SMCT), Shanghai Zhang-Hua-Bang Container Terminal, Tianjin Container Terminal, Nanjing Long-Tan Container Terminal, and Hong-Xi-Gou International Container Terminal at Wanzhou Port. Accordingly, coordination of quayside cranes scheduling will maximize the operational concurrency of quayside container cranes. So far, a dynamic scheduling strategy is deployed to automatically adjust quayside cranes scheduling in terms of (un)loading conditions. A decision-supported model is then tackled for this purpose, dependent on diverse container-terminal surveys and scheduling-staff experiences; whereas fundamental rules of quayside cranes...