Supporting human-operated vehicle dispatching in a maritime container terminal by simulation

A simulation model aimed at representing container handling and internal transfer operations in a pure transshipment container terminal is presented. The main object of the simulator is to support decision making when assigning human-operated straddle carriers (SCs) to quay cranes involved in discharge/loading operations. The path between any couple of origin and destination points is mainly determined by real-time driver choices, therefore decisions must account for vehicle traffic, waiting phenomena and disruptions experienced by the SCs. So, the proposed simulator embodies a multi-step decision process that mirrors the en-route behavior implemented by the SC drivers as a response to the information they receive during their trip. An event-based view, under stochastic conditions, is adopted to reproduce the point-to-point transfer process for SCs along the internal reticular paths within the Manhattan-like layout of the storage blocks in the yard. The usage of the simulator is illustrated through numerical experiments based on real-life data.