scholarly journals Optimization of Gantry Crane Scheduling in Container Sea-Rail Intermodal Transport Yard

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Tian Luo ◽  
Daofang Chang ◽  
Yinping Gao

In the face of rising container throughput and the tasks associated with collecting and dispatching these containers, contributions to the development of sea-rail intermodal transport are required to improve the capacity of container transportation. According to the characteristics and the requirements of the operation of sea-rail intermodal transport, this paper puts forward a design for the transport yard which facilitates container loading and unloading. Through the establishment of a mixed integer programming model, a flexible schedule for gantry crane operation can be realized, so that, during the planned period, the amount of task overflow in loading and unloading operations and the distance covered by all gantry cranes in the yard is minimized. In addition, a genetic algorithm is designed to solve this model. Finally, a specific example of the loading and unloading of a container train at the sea-rail intermodal transport yard is selected to verify the model and the algorithm. The results show that the algorithm can reasonably schedule the gantry cranes to improve their loading and unloading efficiencies in the sea-rail intermodal transport yard.

Author(s):  
Yi Liu ◽  
Sabina Shahbazzade ◽  
Jian Wang

In order to improve the efficiency of container terminals, eliminate the empty quay cranes movements, the simultaneous loading and unloading operations in same ship-bay is advanced. The AFSA-GA algorithm is proposed to solve the mixed integer programming model of the dual-cycle operation, which take advantage of the strong local search ability of GA and the global optimum search ability of AFSA. The experiment shows that AFSA-GA algorithm can improve the operation efficiency of quay crane significantly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1190
Author(s):  
Gang Ren ◽  
Xiaohan Wang ◽  
Jiaxin Cai ◽  
Shujuan Guo

The integrated allocation and scheduling of handling resources are crucial problems in the railway container terminal (RCT). We investigate the integrated optimization problem for handling resources of the crane area, dual-gantry crane (GC), and internal trucks (ITs). A creative handling scheme is proposed to reduce the long-distance, full-loaded movement of GCs by making use of the advantages of ITs. Based on this scheme, we propose a flexible crossing crane area to balance the workload of dual-GC. Decomposing the integrated problem into four sub-problems, a multi-objective mixed-integer programming model (MIP) is developed. By analyzing the characteristic of the integrated problem, a three-layer hybrid heuristic algorithm (TLHHA) incorporating heuristic rule (HR), elite co-evolution genetic algorithm (ECEGA), greedy rule (GR), and simulated annealing (SA) is designed for solving the problem. Numerical experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm. The results show that the proposed algorithm has excellent searching ability, and the simultaneous optimization scheme could ensure the requirements for efficiency, effectiveness, and energy-saving, as well as the balance rate of dual-GC.


2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (06) ◽  
pp. 803-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
CANRONG ZHANG ◽  
ZHIHAI ZHANG ◽  
LI ZHENG ◽  
LIXIN MIAO

This paper examines the allocation of yard cranes and blocks for yard activities in container terminals. In this paper, the yard cranes are confined to rail mounted gantry cranes (RMGC), which are characterized by the restricted traveling range on a pair of rails. Since RMGCs and yard blocks are tightly bound to each other, when allocating them, we should make sure that the RMGCs allocated for a yard activity are able to together cover the blocks allocated for the corresponding yard activity. In addition, considering that there are four basic activities occurring in the yard which compete with each other for the scarce resources and have different requirements and priorities in the allocation of blocks and yard cranes, we treat them in a single model rather than in multiple independent models as were generally done in literature. A mixed integer programming model is constructed, and an iterative decomposition solution procedure is proposed for the problem. Based on the solution procedure, a decision support system is developed and implemented for a terminal in Tianjin seaport. Using the actual data, the numerical experiments show the effectiveness and efficiency of the decision support system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Hongjin Dong ◽  
Mingjun Ling ◽  
Leyi Duan ◽  
Yuguang Wei

In order to improve the transshipment efficiency of transit containers in the port or the port-type railway network container freight station (PRNCS) with the condition that each transit container matches a railway flat-car, this paper studied the optimization of operation path of the rail mounted gantry crane (RMG) in the loading and unloading track for containers transshipped directly from highway to railway. Based on the basic model of TSP, the paper constructed the optimization model for the operation path of RMG, and designed the Ant Colony Algorithm (ACA) to solve it, and then obtained the operation scheme of RMG having the highest efficiency. Finally, the validity and correctness of the model and algorithm were verified by a case.


2014 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
pp. 678-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghian ◽  
M.K.A.M. Ariffin ◽  
S.H. Tang ◽  
N. Ismail

Integration of various types of handling equipment is one of the important methods to improve the efficiency of processes and productivity of a container terminal. Using ALVs, because of their ability in lifting a container from the ground by themselves, can reduce the delay of loading and unloading tasks in automatic container terminals.In this paper, a mixed-integer programming model, which considers the integration of ALVs, Quay Cranes and Yard Cranes, is developed. This model minimizes the makespan of the loading and unloading activities in an Automatic Container Terminal with limited buffer spaces.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
E.S. Shmeleva ◽  
◽  
◽  

The second half of the XX century was a breakthrough for sea cargo transportation. This was facilitated by the creation and development of container transportation. Cargo transportation has become more convenient due to the automation of loading and unloading operations, higher protection of cargo during transportation, but also due to the cost-effectiveness of this method. Currently, for the development of the container transport market, considering the extent to which suppliers are focused on the end user, it is reasonable to assume that trends aimed at innovation should be associated with the provision of environmentallypositive services, real-time tracking, selfservice, reverse logistics, customized products and fast delivery. Some of these trends are amplified with the advent of ecommerce. In addition to creating more compact and flexible platforms, the digitalization of intermodal transport is designed to ensure safer, safer and more sustainable cargo transportation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ming Zeng ◽  
Wenming Cheng ◽  
Peng Guo

The gantry crane scheduling and storage space allocation problem in the main containers yard of railway container terminal is studied. A mixed integer programming model which comprehensively considers the handling procedures, noncrossing constraints, the safety margin and traveling time of gantry cranes, and the storage modes in the main area is formulated. A metaheuristic named backtracking search algorithm (BSA) is then improved to solve this intractable problem. A series of computational experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm under some randomly generated cases based on the practical operation conditions. The results show that the proposed algorithm can gain the near-optimal solutions within a reasonable computation time.


Author(s):  
Baicheng Yan ◽  
Xiaoning Zhu ◽  
Li Wang ◽  
Yimei Chang

In this paper, the integrated scheduling of handling equipment at the railway handling area in container terminals is studied, where rail-mounted gantry cranes, internal trucks, and reach stackers are deployed. In the course of the handling operation, loading and unloading containers are handled simultaneously. The handling process is first studied and some scheduling schemes are put forward. Based on the analysis, the problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model, with the objectives of minimizing the makespan and the total waiting time of all equipment. Then, to solve the problem, a genetic algorithm is employed, where the first available machine rule is applied in the selection of trucks and reach stackers. Sets of numerical experiments are conducted to verify the effect of the proposed algorithm. Based on the results of experiments, some key indicators are calculated and the effects of different equipment configuration schemes are studied.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1573
Author(s):  
Wenqing He ◽  
Zhihong Jin ◽  
Ying Huang ◽  
Shida Xu

This paper investigates the Inland Container Transportation (ICT) problem with carbon dioxide emissions. The separation mode that the tractor and semi-trailer could be detached and it permits multitasking to reduce fuel and carbon emission costs. A mixed-integer programming model with Full-Empty container integration has been built. An improved ant colony optimization with two-dimensional variable matrix encoding and Infeasible-Arc filtration strategy has been proposed. Numerical experiments with different scales and characteristics are simulated and validated in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The comparison result indicates the excellent stability for our approach with different task characteristic distribution.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meisu Zhong ◽  
Yongsheng Yang ◽  
Yamin Zhou ◽  
Octavian Postolache

With the development of automated container terminals (ACTs), reducing the loading and unloading time of operation and improving the working efficiency and service level have become the key point. Taking into account the actual operation mode of loading and unloading in ACTs, a mixed integer programming model is adopted in this study to minimize the loading and unloading time of ships, which can optimize the integrated scheduling of the gantry cranes (QCs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and automated rail-mounted gantries (ARMGs) in automated terminals. Various basic metaheuristic and improved hybrid algorithms were developed to optimize the model, proving the effectiveness of the model to obtain an optimized scheduling scheme by numerical experiments and comparing the different performances of algorithms. The results show that the hybrid GA-PSO algorithm with adaptive autotuning approaches by fuzzy control is superior to other algorithms in terms of solution time and quality, which can effectively solve the problem of integrated scheduling of automated container terminals to improve efficiency.


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