Simulation-based Evaluation of Container Location Dispersion for Convenience of Container Loading at Transshipment Terminals

The process of container operations at a transshipment terminal is often restricted by overloading in the container yard, as a consequence of high density container storage from the same service line in a small region. The container location dispersion refers to the degree of scattering of loading clusters onto the same ship at a transshipment terminal and indicates the container travel distance from yard to quay. This research aims to identify the relationship between the container location dispersion and long-run efficiency of quay crane. Also, implications of this measure are discussed in the context of the yard template design and improving the overall performance of a container transshipment terminal. The authors build a discrete event driven simulation model for the container handling process at a transshipment terminal. First, the authors identify the influence of location dispersion on the container loading performance with scarce or adequate equipment allocation without interferences. Then, the authors investigate those scenarios with such interferences as retrieving containers from other loading lines and suddenly entering containers from different services in the same region. All data in the authors’ experiment are extracted from the terminal operations system (TOS) at a real-life container terminal. It is concluded that the container location dispersion measure well captures the overall performance of container terminal handling and can be used for yard template optimization.