Modeling Container Terminal Scheduling Systems as Hybrid Flow Shops with Blocking Based on Attributes

Container terminal scheduling has been the focus of comprehensive research. However, most approaches concentrate on some specific sort of equipment or resource allocation without embedding them into a full-fledged terminal system optimization. This paper attempts to model the whole container terminal scheduling system by means of the hybrid flow shop problem with blocking based on attributes which is applicable to both scheduling partial and complete systems. This idea together with the concept of modeling terminal systems as multi-agent systems based on the Harvard architecture provides a systematic and applicable methodology for simultaneously accomplishing the scheduling, resource allocation as well as important decision-making processes at container terminals. The approach is validated by an initial simulation study investigating the case of single ship handling and transportation demonstrating the feasibility and creditability of the methodology.