Berth Allocation Optimization In Container Port Based On Rail-Sea Intermodal Transport

With the continuous development of international trade and the maturity of container transportation technology, the container transport develops rapidly. As an advanced organization form of international container transportation, rail-sea intermodal transport is an important trend of future railway transportation. The ratio of container volume transported by railways in foreign ports, is typically up to30%, however it’s only about2%in China. Therefore, it is still necessary develop rail-sea intermodal transport in our country. Since the container port acts as an important connection point between the railway and shipping, the rational planning of its logistics system, is of great significance to reduce costs and improve operation efficiency, as well as competitiveness. Also the berth is a key factor to determine port efficiency, and berth allocation problem (BAP) of container ports, is to decide the best berthing time and berthing position of all the ships arriving at the container port.Based on the basic theory of Container Transportation, Railway Freight Transportation, Prot Management and Operational Research, the optimal allocation of container berth resources of rail-sea intermodal transport is worked out in the thesis, so as to make more effective use of port resources and improve the competitiveness of ports. The operation mode of rail-sea intermodal transport at container port is introduced in the thesis. Furthermore, the optimal operation mode is defined. By analyzing the practical operation of container port and information technology of rail-sea transshipment, a berth allocation model which takes the arrival of container train into consideration, is propesed. It is an optimization model based on the best sea-rail intermodal transport operation mode--"sea-rail" mode. The model is a dynamic berth allocation model with continuous layout, which is more practical to the container port’s operation characteristics. The commercial optimization software LINGO11.0is used to solve the model. The Dalian Port Dayaowan project which uses the "sea-rail" operation mode is also taken as an numeral example in the thesis. Combined with the actual physical conditions of berths and port handling technology, a numberical example is designed. The numerical example shows that the model is likely to find a better solution by considering the two-dimensional characteristics of continuous layout.