Harmony search algorithm for the container storage problem

TL;DR

This paper introduces an adaptation of the harmony search metaheuristic to optimize container storage in harbors, aiming to improve delivery deadlines, reduce rehandlings, and minimize ship idle time, showing promising results compared to genetic algorithms.

Contribution

It presents a novel application of the harmony search algorithm to the container storage problem, demonstrating its effectiveness over existing genetic algorithms.

Findings

Harmony search outperformed genetic algorithms in experiments.

The adapted algorithm effectively minimized container rehandlings.

The approach improved ship idle time and delivery deadlines.

Abstract

Recently a new metaheuristic called harmony search was developed. It mimics the behaviors of musicians improvising to find the better state harmony. In this paper, this algorithm is described and applied to solve the container storage problem in the harbor. The objective of this problem is to determine a valid containers arrangement, which meets customers delivery deadlines, reduces the number of container rehandlings and minimizes the ship idle time. In this paper, an adaptation of the harmony search algorithm to the container storage problem is detailed and some experimental results are presented and discussed. The proposed approach was compared to a genetic algorithm previously applied to the same problem and recorded a good results.