Title: Evaluating truck turn time in grounded operations using simulation

Authors: Nathan Huynh, C. Michael Walton

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, 434 McNair Hall, 1601 E. Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Department of Civil Engineering-TRAN, The University of Texas at Austin, ECJ 6.3, Austin, TX 78712, USA

Abstract: This paper presents in detail techniques for developing simulation models of marine container terminals using Arena. It illustrates the concepts by modelling the Port of Houston|s Barbours Cut Container Terminal (BCT) and subsequently discusses how the model can be used to answer one of many operational questions BCT management had – how many yard cranes are needed to reduce truck turn time to a desirable level. Arena is demonstrated in this research that it can be used to model all aspects of container terminal operations, including the precise movements of trucks and cranes in grounded operations.

Keywords: discrete event simulation; Arena; marine container terminals; truck turn time; container ports; yard cranes; crane deployment.

DOI: 10.1504/WRITR.2007.017093

World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 2007 Vol.1 No.4, pp.357 - 386

Published online: 12 Feb 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article