Title: A decomposition-heuristic-rule-enabled decision-making system for dynamic quay crane allocation and scheduling

Authors: Yanwei Zhang, Ning Zhao, Laide Shi

Addresses: School of Logistics Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, 1040 Heping Avenue, Wuhan 430063, Hubei Province, PR China. ' Logistics Engineering School, Shanghai Maritime University, 1550 Pudong Avenue, Shanghai 200135, PR China. ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China

Abstract: The Quay Crane Scheduling Problem (QCSP) plays an important role in the container terminal operation. In order to develop an effective QCSP model, in this study, the QCSP is decomposed into two sub-problems, i.e., the QC-allocation and QC-scheduling levels. By defining precedence constraints and heuristic rules, dynamic decisions were then made between ships and within a ship. An example of a specific container terminal was applied to validate the dynamic QC allocation and scheduling strategy. It was also revealed from the experimental results that the strategy possessed such properties as automated scheming, low memory occupation and user-friendly interfacing, viz., the operation efficiency, stability and practicality outperformed the existing mode. Therefore, this approach has been proven effective and pragmatic in automated operation and decision-making.

Keywords: container terminals; terminal operation; quay cranes; crane allocation; crane scheduling; precedence constraints; decomposition heuristic rule; dynamic decision making; logistics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2008.021381

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2008 Vol.32 No.4, pp.265 - 271

Published online: 21 Nov 2008 *

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