A Heuristic Procedure for the Outbound Container Relocation Problem during Export Loading Operations

During export ship loading operations, it is often necessary to perform relocation movements with containers that interfere with access to the desired container in the ship loading sequence. This paper presents a real-time heuristic procedure for the container relocation problem employing reachstack...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Roberto Guerra-Olivares, Rosa G. González-Ramírez, Neale R. Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2015-01-01
Series:Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/201749
Description
Summary:During export ship loading operations, it is often necessary to perform relocation movements with containers that interfere with access to the desired container in the ship loading sequence. This paper presents a real-time heuristic procedure for the container relocation problem employing reachstacker vehicles as container handling equipment. The proposed heuristic searches for good relocation coordinates within a set of nearby bays. The heuristic has a parameter that determines how far from the original bay a container may be relocated. The tradeoff between reducing relocation movements and limiting vehicle travel distances is examined and the performance of the heuristic is compared with a common practice in the smaller container terminals in Chile and Mexico. Finally, a mathematical model for the container relocation problem is presented.
ISSN:1024-123X
1563-5147