Using the truck appointment system to improve yard efficiency in container terminals
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Using the truck appointment system to improve yard efficiency in container terminals We n j u a n Z h a o a a n d A n n e V. G o o d c h i l d b a
Washington State Department of Transportation, 310 Maple Park Avenue SE, PO Box 47407, Olympia, WA, USA. E-mail: [email protected] b Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Wa shington, 121E More Hall, Box 352700, Seattle, WA 98195-2700, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
A b s t r a c t This article considers the effectiveness of a truck appointment system in improving yard efficiency in a container terminal. This research uses the truck appointment information obtained from an appointment system to improve import container retrieval operation and reduce container rehandles by adopting an advanced container location assignment algorithm. By reducing container rehandles, the terminal could improve yard crane productivity and reduce truck transaction time. A hybrid approach of simulation and queuing theory was developed to model the container retrieval operation and estimate the crane productivity and truck turn-time. Various configurations of the truck appointment system are modeled to investigate how those factors affect the effectiveness of the truck information. The research results illustrate a clear benefit for terminals utilizing a truck appointment system to manage their yard operation. Reducing the duration of the appointment time window or increasing the appointment lead time could further enhance system performance. Furthermore, the truck information is still effective in improving system efficiency, even if a good portion of trucks miss their appointments. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2013) 15, 101–119. doi:10.1057/mel.2012.23
Keywords: truck appointment system; container terminal; computer simulation; queuing model; effectiveness of truck information; truck transaction time
r 2013 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1479-2931 Maritime Economics & Logistics Vol. 15, 1, 101–119 www.palgrave-journals.com/mel/
Zhao and Goodchild
Introduction With global container movement volume forecasted to increase by an average of 7.5 per cent annually in the next 6 years, maritime port congestion could once again become a problem. It is predicted that global container port volumes will rise by 300 million Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) between 2010 and 2016, an increase of just over 55 per cent in this period. It is predicted that in the next 5 years, demand growth will significantly outstrip capacity expansion, leading to rapidly rising utilization level in many ports and regions of the world (Davidson, 2012). As a result, container terminals would be stressed to accommodate the growing container traffic, and excessive truck delays could be caused within and around container terminals. To deal with truck congestion problems, some US container terminals have deployed gate appointment systems such as Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and Port of Oakland. Under such systems, truckers can make appointments to pick up or drop off containers d
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