The Group Allocation Problem in a Transshipment Container Terminal

The Group Allocation Problem (GAP) is an operational problem arising in the yard management of a container transshipment terminal. This paper will present a model aimed at minimizing the container handling inside the yard. Decision variables are where and when to allocate or reallocate containers groups. The paper will present an extensive literature review of yard management problems in container terminals. The paper will show that the scientific literature considers mainly the Indirect Transfer System terminals. Furthermore, the literature focuses on import or export terminals. The GAP presented here is a new problem since it considers a Direct Transfer System yard and a transshipment terminal.