Article Abstract

	Title:	Design and analysis of an automated container handling system in seaports
	Author:	Ardavan Asef-Vaziri, Behrokh Khoshnevis, Mansour Rahimi
	Address:	Department of Systems and Operations Management, College of Business Administration and Economics, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330-8378, USA. ' Epstein Department of Industrial and System Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0193, USA. ' Epstein Department of Industrial and System Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0193, USA
	Journal:	International Journal of Agile Systems and Management 2008 - Vol. 3, No.1/2  pp. 112 - 126
	Abstract:	This article presents the design and analysis of an automated container handling system which integrates Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) and Automated Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) for use at seaport terminals. Current practices in seaport container terminals are discussed first, and then, the main components of the proposed automated configuration are introduced. A computer simulation model is developed to examine the key measures of effectiveness such as throughput and space/equipment utilisation. The performance of the proposed configuration shows nearly four times improvement in throughput/acre over the commonly practised block stacking approach. Implications for future automated systems of this type have been described.
	Keywords:	automated container terminals; automated guided vehicle systems; AGVS; automated storage and retrieval systems; ASRS; simulation; facility logistics; terminal throughput; automated container handling; seaports.
	DOI:	10.1504/IJASM.2008.019602
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