A continuous time model for multiple yard crane scheduling with last minute job arrivals

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2011.12.020
• Publication Date: 2011-12-22T07:54:38Z
• Authors: Wenkai Li; Mark Goh; Yong Wu; M.E.H. Petering; R. de Souza; Y.C. Wu
• Keywords: Yard; Heuristics; Time horizon; Material handling

Container terminal (CT) operations are often bottlenecked by slow yard crane (YC) movements. Efficient YC scheduling to reduce the PM waiting time is therefore critical in increasing a CT’s throughput. This chapter develops an efficient continuous-time MILP model for YC scheduling. The model treats realistic operational constraints such as multiple intercrane interference, fixed YC separation distances, simultaneous container storage/retrievals, realistic YC acceleration/deceleration stages and gantry time, and require far fewer integer variables than previous work. The model significantly improves the solution quality compared to the existing discrete-time models and other heuristics found in the literature. Using heuristics and a rolling-horizon algorithm, our model can solve actual container yard (CY) problems quickly and robustly in polynomial time. Also, to cope with the last-minute container arrivals which can disrupt routine CT operations, two methods for handling these last-minute job insertions are discussed and compared.