Dispatching Vehicles Considering Uncertain Handling Times at Port Container Terminals

This paper considers the problem of vehicle dispatching at port container terminals in a dynamic environment. The problem deals with the assignment of delivery orders of containers to vehicles while taking into consideration the uncertainty in the travel times of the vehicles. Thus, a real-time vehicle dispatching algorithm is proposed for adaptation to the dynamic changes in the states of the container terminals. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, a simulation study was conducted by considering various values of decision parameters under the uncertainty in travel times. Further, the performance of the proposed algorithm was compared with those of heuristic algorithms from previous studies

Simulation framework of port operation and recovery planning

This study proposes a framework of simulation tool suites for ports to evaluate their response to disaster crisis and port security policies. The focus is containerized cargos that are imported through ports in the U.S. with final destinations also in the U.S. A crisis, such as a man-made or natural disaster, may cause a delay at the seaport. The down time of ports may result in severe economic losses. Thus, when a seaport cannot normally operate, it is important to minimize the impact caused by the disrupted freight flow. Port security policies also have a significant impact on the port operation efficiency. This model developed in this study evaluates the performance of re-routing strategies under different crisis scenarios and can help the user to find an effective re-routing decision and analyze security policies of a port. This model also analyzes security policies of the simulation port

Pelimoottorin hyödyntäminen simuloinnin visualisoinnissa

Modern game engines provide software developers with comprehensive toolsets for turning their visions into visually appealing 3D worlds. In addition to gaming industry, these frameworks can be used in creating visualizations for real-world processes. In this thesis, the concept of game engine based industrial process visualization is demonstrated in the context of automated container terminals. During the thesis project, a real-time 3D visualization tool was developed that can be used to visualize simulated terminals and actual systems. The work was commissioned by a Finnish client company, working in the cargo handling industry. The thesis document comprises of a background part and a solution part. In the background part, the most important concepts of container terminal operations are presented. The focus is then moved to the software systems that are used in the automated terminals provided by the client company. The background part contains also a review of the existing 3D applications in the container handling industry and a literature survey of various other projects, which are utilizing game engines for simulation purposes. For the practical part, a requirements analysis was performed for the visualization tool. The development platform was then chosen by comparing two of the most commonly used modern game engines: Unity and Unreal Engine. While both of the engines had their advantages and disadvantages, Unity was chosen as the development platform for several reasons: It allowed using the existing 3D models of the client company without doing any manual conversions to the files. The object model and scripting system of Unity was also regarded as intuitive and easy to use. Finally, the software framework used in Unity allowed easy integration with the software systems of the client company. The implemented application is configured by using similar XML files that are used in GUI applications of actual terminals. It communicates with the terminal automation system by using the common communication platform. Machine positions and container events are acquired real-time from the automation system. It was also proven, that the application can be extended to send messages back to the automation system. The solution was tested with a virtual container terminal, including 10,000 containers and 47 container handling machines. It was confirmed, that the application is able to handle large amount of concurrent movement without problems. However, the vast amount of objects in the terminal makes the visualization of the whole area a challenging task for a conventional PC. Further graphical optimization is required in order to provide sufficient frame rate and smooth animation in all situations

Korkeatehoisen latausinfrastruktuurin ja täyssähköisten työkoneiden käyttöönoton edellytykset satamaympäristössä

Tightening environmental requirements and cheaper operating costs have led to replacing diesel machinery with electrical drives. Common challenges in machinery electrification is the dependency on the close proximity of electric supply, and low energy density and high prices of batteries. This master’s thesis studies the prerequisites of implementing high power charging infrastructure and electrical machinery in harbor environment. For this thesis, two qualitative interviews were conducted to form a comprehension about harbor environments and operations. Additionally, certain factors - such as available charging power and time - that affect the implementation of electrical powertrains, were understood better. Using these interviews, generic models of harbor operations were developed to assess the impact of the factors. Using design criteria, that include machinery power, operating time, yearly operating hours, battery energy content, and cycle duration, two total cost of ownership models were created for baseline cases of opportunity and depot charging concepts, and the results were compared to the cost of similar diesel machinery. The effect of the design criteria to the total cost - with other factors such as battery and infrastructure cost - was studied using sensitivity analysis, while recognizing key cost factors. Based on the models, it was found that opportunity charging is a technically feasible method to implement in harbors, while being financially profitable. The key factors for the opportunity charging concept are yearly usage, fleet size, and electricity price. The key factors for the depot charging concept are the unit cost of kWh for batteries, and battery lifetime. There is more uncertainty about the feasibility of the depot charging concept due to the large size and high cost of the battery. Also the total cost of ownership of the concept is very close to that of the diesel machinery.Kiristyvät ympäristövaatimukset ja edullisemmat käyttökustannukset ovat johtaneet dieseltyökoneiden korvaamiseen sähköisillä. Sähköistyksen yleisenä haasteena ovat riippuvuus sähkönsyötön läheisyydestä, akkujen matalat energiatiheydet sekä korkeat hinnat. Tämä diplomityö tutkii sähköisten työkoneiden ja vaadittavan latausinfrastruktuurin käyttöönoton edellytyksiä satamaympäristössä. Työtä varten tehtiin kaksi kvalitatiivista haastattelua satamaympäristöjen ja -toiminnan syvemmäksi ymmärtämiseksi. Lisäksi, tiettyjä tekijöitä, kuten saatavilla olevaa lataustehoa ja -aikaa - jotka vaikuttavat sähköisten voimalinjojen käyttöönottoon - ymmärrettiin paremmin. Haastatteluiden perusteella voitiin muodostaa geneerisiä malleja satamatoiminnasta näiden tekijöiden vaikutuksen arvioimiseksi. Suunnittelukriteerejä, kuten työkonetehoa, operointiaikaa, vuosittaisia käyttötunteja, akun energiamäärää ja syklikestoa, käyttämällä luotiin kaksi elinkaarikustannusmallia taukolataus- ja varikkolatauskonseptien perusskenaarioille. Tuloksia vertailtiin samankaltaisen dieseltyökoneen kustannuksiin. Akku- ja infrastruktuurikustannuksen lisäksi, suunnittelukriteerien vaikutusta kustannuksiin tutkittiin käyttämällä herkkyysanalyysiä, ja samalla paljastamalla avainkustannustekijät. Mallien perusteella huomattiin, että taukolataus on teknisesti toteuttamiskelpoinen metodi satamiin ollen samalla taloudellisesti kannattava. Avaintekijöitä taukolataukselle ovat vuotuiset käyttötunnit, laivuekoko ja sähkön hinta. Avaintekijät varikkolataukselle ovat akkukilowattitunnin kustannus ja akun elinikä. Varikkolatauskonseptin käyttökelpoisuuteen liittyy enemmän epävarmuutta, sillä siinä akut ovat suuria ja kalliita. Myös konseptin elinkaarikustannus on lähellä dieselin vastaavaa kustannusta

The expansion of the port of Genoa: the Rivalta Scrivia dry port

There are two main ways for a port to face the long-term increase in freight demand: a better usage of the current available port land or an enlargement to new port areas. Within this second solution is included the movement outside of the port’s borders of some activities currently carried out in the port, but not directly connected with the loading or unloading of goods. This relieves the territory and the port itself of the negative consequences (represented by the occupancy of scarce resources, such as the port areas) resulting from increased time and costs due to the handling of goods taking space and time from more value added activities and from the negative externalities associated with the presence of the port industry highly impacting the city fabric (such as congestion, atmospheric and acoustic pollution and space taken away from the city). This is the situation of the port of Genoa, where the particular orographic configuration of the territory and a large urbanization of the immediate proximity of the port property have forced the Genoa Port Authority to look for more space in the hinterland in order to manage the import/export of goods in the most efficient and effective way possible. This paper examines the case study of the Rivalta Scrivia dry port, located 75 km from Genoa along the railway line that links the Ligurian capital with the reference market. The need for more space at the service of Genoa port is confirmed by the analysis of the port demand, including both current and forecasted container traffic

Sea Container Terminals

Due to a rapid growth in world trade and a huge increase in containerized goods, sea container terminals play a vital role in globe-spanning supply chains. Container terminals should be able to handle large ships, with large call sizes within the shortest time possible, and at competitive rates. In response, terminal operators, shipping liners, and port authorities are investing in new technologies to improve container handling infrastructure and operational efficiency. Container terminals face challenging research problems which have received much attention from the academic community. The focus of this paper is to highlight the recent developments in the container terminals, which can be categorized into three areas: (1) innovative container terminal technologies, (2) new OR directions and models for existing research areas, and (3) emerging areas in container terminal research. By choosing this focus, we complement existing reviews on container terminal operations