Nature Inspired Metaheuristics for Optimizing Problems at a Container Terminal

Nowadays, maritime transport is the backbone of the international trade of goods. Therefore, seaports play a very important role in global transport. The use of containers is significantly represented in the maritime transport. Considering the increased number of container shipments in the global transport, seaport container terminals have to be adapted to a new situation and provide the best possible service of container transfer by reducing the transfer cost and the container transit time. Therefore, there is a need for optimization of the whole container transport process within the terminal. The logistic problems of the container terminals have become very complex and logistics experts cannot manually adjust the operations of terminal processes that will optimize the usage of resources. Hence, to achieve further improvements of terminal logistics, there is a need to introduce scientific methods such as metaheuristics that will enable better and optimized use of the terminal resources in an automated way. There is a large number of research papers that have successfully proposed the solutions of optimizing the container logistic problems with well-known metaheuristics inspired by the nature. However, there is a continuous emergence of new nature inspired metaheuristics today, like artificial bee colony algorithm, firefly algorithm and bat algorithm, that outperform the well-known metaheuristics considering the most popular optimization problems like travel salesman problem. Considering these results of comparing algorithms, we assume that better results of optimization of container terminal logistic problems can be achieved by introducing these new nature inspired metaheuristics. In this paper we have described and classified the main subsystems of the container terminal and its logistic problems that need to be optimized. We have also presented a review of new nature inspired metaheuristics (bee, firefly and bat algorithm) that could be used in the optimization of these problems within the terminal

An Analysis of Policy Making for Dry Port Location and Capacity: A Case study on Alexandria

Container terminal capacity is a crucial issue for port and terminal operators nowadays as it is one of the key points for their success and increasing their competitive market position in the maritime industry. Therefore, researchers have tried to find solutions for the over capacity problem that faces many terminal operators. This research suggests dry ports as one of the most suitable solution for this problem through proposing a structured framework to adopt the right policy decisions for Dry Port location and capacity. To achieve the presented framework some areas were addressed in detail to have the full picture clear. The current status of the global container sector was assessed, also, the main capacity problems of container terminals with a view to reviewing the suggested solutions was investigated, hence the need for dry ports. In addition, policies for providing optimal location and capacity decisions for container terminals were identified. A technique that supports assessing container terminal location and capacity policy decisions with particular reference to dry ports were developed. Moreover, a case study on Alexandria International Container Terminal for validating the results was conducted. The current research was facilitated by experts from the maritime transport industry, through the application of the Delphi Technique. Applying such a technique enables collaborating experts to share experience modify statements and re-asking to reach a final exact answer that could be generalized. The consensus achieved will help build knowledge and understanding of potential Dry Ports’ policies of the maritime transport sector. This research seeks to make an original contribution to knowledge by developing a structured framework to identify policy decisions for location and capacity of Dry Ports using a Delphi technique as a support tool for terminal managers and operators, port planners, policy makers, and investors in deciding decisions relevant to Dry Port investment.Arab Academy for science & Technology & Maritime Transpor

Modeling an offshore container terminal: the Venice case study

In order to reduce marine transportation times and related costs, as well as the environmental impacts, an alternative multimodal route to the current Suez-Gibraltar-North Sea corridor for the containers shipped from Far and Middle East was identified as potentially very effective. A key operational problem to achieve this result is the capacity and the effectiveness of the terminals within the concerned new logistic chain. In this framework, the Venice Port Authority is developing a project aimed to improve relevantly the potential of its container terminals to al-low loading/unloading of containers to and from the Central Europe. The project includes a new offshore terminal for mooring huge ships (up to 18.000 TEU) in the Adriatic Sea and a link operated by barges with an onshore terminal in Venice to overcome the constraints for the navigation of the containers ships in the Venetian lagoon. This innovative operational scheme requires a deep functional analysis to ensure the full capacity operation, assess the reachable performances and correspondingly dimensioning the required equipment (cranes, barges, quays, etc.). For this purpose, the authors developed a specific discrete-events simulation model. The paper includes the presentation of the model and the results of its application to Venice case study, by identifying the benefits achievable with this approach and the potential wider application fields