Straddle carrier routing at seaport container terminals in the presence of short term quay crane buffer areas

• Published in: European journal of operational research Vol. 279; no. 3; pp. 732 - 750
• Main Authors: Kress, Dominik, Meiswinkel, Sebastian, Pesch, Erwin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 16-12-2019
• Subjects: Container logistics; Scheduling; Seaport logistics; Vehicle dispatching; Vehicle routing; Container logistics; Scheduling; Seaport logistics; Vehicle routing; Vehicle dispatching
• ISSN: 0377-2217; 1872-6860
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2019.06.028

•We consider a straddle carrier routing problem at seaports.•Gantry cranes are equipped with short term storage areas (buffer areas).•We assume that the assignment of straddle carriers to gantry cranes is not fixed.•We present an integer program and a decomposition based heuristic framework.•The framework performs well in real-world online settings.
We address an optimization problem that arises at seaports where containers are transported between stacking areas and small buffer areas of restricted capacity that are located within the reach of quay cranes. The containers are transported by straddle carriers that have to be routed such that given unloading and loading sequences of the containers at the quay cranes are respected. The objective is to minimize the turnaround times of the vessels. We analyze the problem’s computational complexity, present an integer program, and propose a heuristic framework that is based on decomposing the problem into its routing component and a component that handles the time variables and buffer capacities. The framework is analyzed in computational tests that are based on real-world data. Based on these tests, we analyze the question of whether or not it pays off to deviate from the approach of permanently assigning a fixed number of straddle carriers to each quay crane, which is the strategy that is currently implemented at the port.