Slot assignment for outbound containers in storage space limited container terminal

For coping with the storage stacking demand of outbound container, this paper explores the yard slot assignment problem for resourced limited container terminal. Based on the penalty method proposed in this paper, a mixed integer programming and a heuristic algorithm are presented. In numerical experiments, instances combined with practical port operation are designed to verify the effectiveness the proposed heuristic algorithm and stacking strategy. In addition, some scenario experiments designed to analyze the affect of container weight grades and available stack space on yard slot assignment. Experimental results show the model and algorithm proposed in this paper can increase the utilization of yard space resource and decrease container reshuffle effectively, and it can provide an effective decision support for the terminal manager.