Title: Single straddle carrier routing problem in port container terminals: mathematical model and solving approaches

Authors: Babacar Mbaye Ndiaye; Hoai An Le Thi; Tao Pham Dinh

Addresses: Laboratory of Mathematics of Decision and Numerical Analysis, University of Cheikh Anta Diop, BP 45087 Dakar-Fann, 99000, Dakar, Senegal. ' Laboratory of Theoretical and Applied Computer Science, UFR MIM, University of Lorraine, Metz, Ile du Saulcy, 57045 Metz, France. ' Laboratory of Mathematics, National Institute for Applied Sciences – Rouen, University Avenue, BP 08, 76801 Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France

Abstract: This paper treats the problem of routing straddle carriers during the loading operations of export containers. The straddle carrier (SC) travel distance will be much longer if two consecutive containers must be collected far from one another instead of from consecutive yard-bays. So, finding the minimum straddle carrier travel distance will guarantee port efficiency and allow cost savings. Our objective is to minimise the total travel distance of a straddle carrier. A SC performs a so called partial tour to pick-up containers of a same group, according to the work schedule. This problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem, which is hard to solve optimally. In this paper, we reformulate the problem, thanks to exact penalty techniques in DC programming, as a continuous polyhedral DC programme. A combination of the local algorithm DCA and a global optimisation approach based on cutting plane techniques is proposed. Our algorithm, consisting in solving a finite number of linear programmes, converges to a global solution. Computational experiments indicate its efficiency.

Keywords: vehicle routing; container ports; container terminals; difference of convex functions; DC programming; DCA; cutting plane; straddle carriers; mathematical modelling; port efficiency; travel distance; optimisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIDS.2012.050096

International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems, 2012 Vol.6 No.6, pp.532 - 554

Accepted: 29 Apr 2012
Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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