Simulation and mathematical modeling applied to complex systems: a study case on planning ports operations

Abstract

The operational efficiency of a port depends on a proper container moving planning. This includes a proper ship container arrangement planning through ports known as "stowage planning" and port equipment coordination that allows the container ship loading and unloading cargo from and to yard by using quay cranes, vehicles and, gantry cranes or straddle carrier. This project proposes a study on simulation and mathematical formulations to develop a framework for solving and integrate the five main problems that appears on Port Operation: Berth Allocation, Stowage Planning, Crane Split, Quayside transport and Land-side transport. Each problem is itself a combinatorial one which justifies the applications of meta-heuristics. Another drawback for real problems is related to solution encoding, which mathematical models demands a large number of binary variables to represent a solution. For example, a Stowage Planning solution that produces a complete stowage plan through 30 ports and a container ship size of 1500 TEUs will demand 40,545,000 binary variables to represent just one solution. This justifies not only the use of heuristics for problems, but also a different way to represent the solution. The robustness of the developed approach will be attested in problems with real size dimensions and will emphasize the integration of operations through port. (AU)