Study of Best Berth Occupancy Ratio Influenced by Terminal Construction Investment

One of the design principles for port engineering is to minimize the total cost undertaken by port enterprise,vessel corp.and shipper and increase national economy benefit as much as possible.The best berth occupancy ratio in port layout design specification is the recommended value in some range,which is independent of port investment.Taking the example of one crude oil berth and according to the queue theory,the best berth occupancy ratio is calculated through computer simulation technique.The calculated result is beyond the recommended scope in the specification.The reason of it is due to the more investment.Adopting four sets of different terminal investment scale assumed to calculate the best berth occupancy ratio.It is verified this method has the universality.It is shown from the study that the phenomenon of best berth occupancy ratio depending on the increase of terminal investment is reasonable and it should be taken into consideration in terminal design and the related specification revision for the future.