Constraint and Mathematical Programming Models for Integrated Port Container Terminal Operations

TL;DR

This paper develops and compares MIP and CP models for integrated port terminal operations, aiming to optimize vessel turnaround and throughput, with CP showing practical efficiency for realistic scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces new MIP and CP models for the integrated port operation problem, addressing computational challenges and providing effective solutions for realistic instances.

Findings

CP model finds optimal solutions efficiently for realistic instances.

MIP model solves only small instances due to complexity.

CP outperforms MIP in practical scenarios.

Abstract

This paper considers the integrated problem of quay crane assignment, quay crane scheduling, yard location assignment, and vehicle dispatching operations at a container terminal. The main objective is to minimize vessel turnover times and maximize the terminal throughput, which are key economic drivers in terminal operations. Due to their computational complexities, these problems are not optimized jointly in existing work. This paper revisits this limitation and proposes Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) and Constraint Programming (CP) models for the integrated problem, under some realistic assumptions. Experimental results show that the MIP formulation can only solve small instances, while the CP model finds optimal solutions in reasonable times for realistic instances derived from actual container terminal operations.