Re-marshaling export containers in port container terminals

In order to speed up the loading operation of export containers onto a ship, the re-marshaling operation is an usual practice in port container terminals. It is assumed that the current yard map for containers is available and a desirable bay layout is provided. A methodology is proposed to convert the current bay layout into the desirable layout by moving the fewest possible number of containers and in the shortest possible travel distance. The problem is decomposed into three sub-problems such as the bay matching, the move planning, and the task sequencing. The bay matching is to match a specific current bay with a bay configuration in-the target layout. In the move planning stage, the number of containers to be moved from a specific bay to another is determined. The completion time of the re-marshaling operation is minimized by sequencing the moving tasks in the final stage. A mathematical model is suggested for each sub-problem. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the solution procedure. (C) 1998 Elsevier science Ltd. All rights reserved.