Schedule template design and storage allocation for cyclically visiting feeders in container transshipment hubs

Abstract

This paper studies the management of transshipment flows in a container terminal. Management consists of designing a visiting schedule template for feeder vessels and determining storage locations for transshipment containers. A mixed integer programming formulation is developed; it includes the objective of minimizing both the total distance traveled by transshipment flows between quayside and storage yard and the workload imbalance in time. To solve the problem, an algorithm is devised on the basis of Lagrangian relaxation to find near-optimal solutions within short computational times. Numerical experiments are conducted to assess (a) the effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm and (b) the benefit from adjusting feeder visiting schedule.