Port definition

A port can be defined as a gateway through which goods and passengers are transferred
between ships and shore (Wang et al, 2005). Ports have been natural sites for transhipment
in order to transfer goods from one mode of transport to another (King, 1997). They have
historically provided the link between maritime and inland transport, the interface between
the sea and rivers, and roads and railways (Dowd & Leschine, 1990). At present, ports play
an important role in the management and co-ordination of materials and information flows,
as transport is an integral part of the entire supply chain (Carbone & De Martino, 2003).

Fast-growing international seaborne trade in the 1950s and 1960s imposed demands which
the shipping industry could not meet with existing technology (King, 1997). Previously,
shipping was inadequate, in terms of capacity and efficiency, for transporting the growing
volume of cargo across borders (Blumel, 1997). Increased demand in shipping with the
existing labour intensive, low productivity cargo handling methods, resulted inevitably in
longer delays, growing port congestion and rising costs (Hayuth & Hilling, 1992). Ports
became the bottlenecks in the trading system and pressure for change mounted (King,
1997).

The shipping industry started changing ship design and building methods to accommodate
the increase in demand, with larger dimensions for ocean carriers especially in bulk trades,
with a range of new technologies for handling cargo between ship and shore (Cullinane &
Song, 2007). Even though the ship designs have changed over the years, little had been done
to improve cargo handling (Cullinane & Song, 2007). As shipping lines are the most
important clients of a port, the revolutionary changes in shipping forced ports in recent
years to change physical design, operations, organisations, and external relations (Cullinane
& Song, 2007; Hayuth & Hilling, 1992).

The gradual shift from conventional break-bulk terminals to container terminals since the
early 1960s brought about a fundamental change in layout of terminals as well as site
selection. Ports increasingly became impacted by global processes. Containerized
transportation has substantially changed port dynamics to favor the emergence of
specialized container ports. As compared to conventional break-bulk cargo ships
containerships did not have onboard cranes, container terminal facilities had to provide
capital intensive cranes and well as ample storage space to stack containers dockside. Finger
piers were no longer adequate and berths were redesigned to accommodate for quick ship
turnaround and more effective dockside operations between the crane and the container
storage areas. Containerization has consequently become a fundamental function of global
port operations and has changed the structure and configuration of port terminals that tend
to occupy more space. While inland port sites (such as at the end of a bay or along a river)
generally have the advantage of being closer to the final market they imply longer deviations
from maritime shipping routes. Therefore, the most successful inland ports sites are those
that act as gateways (e.g. Antwerp, Montreal, Constanza) (Rodrigue, 2017).
Table 1.1 Top 20 ports rank

Port terminals

The word terminal refers to a complete port facility for accommodating, loading/ discharge
of ships and for the storage, stacking and handling of cargo on shore. The terminal types can
be categorized to the following main types:

Container terminal
Bulk cargo terminal
Oil terminal
LPG terminal
Cruise terminal
Product tanker terminal

Container Terminal

Containerized sea-freight transportation has grown dramatically over the last two
decades, much faster than other sea transportation modes (Vacca, 2011). Container traffic
increased about 9.5% per year between 2000 and 2008, while the average annual rate for
cargo traffic was 5.3% (ISL, 2009). The share of containerized trade in the worlds total
dry cargo increased from 5.1% in 1980 to 25.4% in 2008 (UNCTAD, 2009).

This rapid growth is explained by several factors, such as reduced transit time,
reduced shipping costs, increased reliability and security, multi-modality. Containers
are nowadays the main type of equipment used in intermodal transport: any container has a
standardized load unit that is suitable for ships, trucks and trains and
can be transferred very quickly from one transport mode to another. In this context,
container terminals are crucial connections between different transportation modes
and cargo handling represents a critical point in the transportation chain. Moreover,
they also represent the site where several market players involved in maritime
transportation (such as the terminal itself, the port authority, the shipping companies)
trade for their business.

A container terminal is the zone of the port where vessels dock on a berth and
containers are loaded, unloaded and stored in a buffer area called yard. The terminal
can be ideally divided into three areas: the quayside, the yard and the gate.

Figure 1.1 Container Terminal (Steenken et al., 2004)

Containerization

Containers are large boxes used to transport goods from one destination to another (Huynh
& Walton, 2005). They are designed to facilitate the movement of goods without
intermediate reloading. Goods in containers require less packaging, are less likely to be
damaged, and result in higher productivity compared with conventional bulk (Huynh &
Walton, 2005). Containers are fitted with devices permitting their ready handling by
terminal equipment and the transportation system (Lam et al., 2008). The dimensions of
containers are standardised by International Standards Organisation (ISO) (Huynh & Walton,
2005). The ISO recommended lengths are 10, 20, 30, 40 foot, but most containers are 20 and
40 foot.

Containerization refers to the increasing and generalized use of the container as a support
for freight transportation (Rodrigue, 2017). It involves processes where the intermodal
container is increasingly used because it either substitutes cargo from other conveyances, is
adopted as a mode supporting freight distribution or is able to diffuse spatially as a growing
number of transport systems are able to handle containers.
Figure 1.2 Container Sizes

Container Types

Depending on the type of products to be shipped or the special services needed from them,
container units may vary in dimension, structure, materials, construction etc. various types
of shipping containers are being used today to meet requirements of all kinds of cargo
shipping. Some of the most common types of shipping containers in use today are
mentioned below.

Dry Van The most used freight container, totally enclosed and weatherproof, with
a rigid roof, rigid side walls, and floor, having at least one of its end walls equipped
with doors and intended to be suitable for the transport of cargo of the greatest
possible variety (Rodrigue, 2017).

Reefer - Thermal container equipped with an electrical appliance (mechanical

compressor) for the purposes of cooling or heating the air within the container.

Open Top - Freight container similar in all respects to a general purpose container
except that it has no rigid roof but may have a flexible and movable or removable
cover. Such containers may have movable or removable top end transverse
members above their end doors.
These containers are primarily used to carry heavy and/or bulky finished products,
which handling and loading can only be performed with a crane or a rolling bridge.

Tank - A freight container which includes two basic elements, the tank and the
framework. This type of container is used to carry hazardous or non- hazardous
liquids.

Flat Rack - Compared to fixed-end type, collapsible flatracks have end walls that fold.
The flushfolding collapsible flatrack, the most sophisticated of its types has end walls
which fold flush with the base. Flatracks are dedicated for the carriage of heavy,
bulky as well as over height and/ or over width items.
 Figure 1.3 Container types

A significant share of international containers are either owned by shipping lines that tend to
use them has a tool to help fill up their ships or by leasing companies using containerized
assets for revenue generation. In the United States, a large amount of domestic containers
of 53 foot are also used. Doublestacking of containers on railways (COFC: Containers On Flat
Cars) has doubled the capacity of trains to haul freight with minimal cost increases, thereby
improving the competitive position of the railways with regards to trucking for long-haul
shipments.

While it is true that the maritime container has become the work horse of international
trade, other types of containers are found in certain modes, most notably in the airline
industry. High labor costs and the slowness of loading planes, that require a very rapid
turnaround, made the industry very receptive to the concept of a loading unit of standard
dimensions designed to fit the specific shape of the bellyhold. The maritime container was
too heavy and did not fit the rounded configuration of a planes fuselage, and thus a box
specific to the needs of the airlines was required. The major breakthrough came with the
introduction of wide-bodied aircraft in the late 1970s. Lightweight aluminum boxes, called
unit load devices, could be filled with passengers baggage or parcels and freight, and loaded
into the holds of the planes using tracking that requires little human assistance.

Containerization represents a revolution in the freight transport industry, facilitating both

economies of scale and improvements in handling speed and throughput, with containerized
traffic has surged since the 1990s. This underlines the adoption of the container as a
privileged mean to ship products on international and national markets, particularly for non-
bulk commodities where the container accounts for more than 90% of all movements.
Containerization leans on growth factors mainly related to globalization, substitution from
break bulk and more recently the setting of intermediate transshipment hubs. Although
containerization initially superimposed itself over existing transportation systems, as it
became a dominant mean of freight transportation it created its own unique system of
exclusive modes and terminals.

Globalization and containerization as closely interrelated. According to UNCTAD, between

1970 and 1990 trade facilitation measures accounted for 45% of the growth in global trade
while membership to global trade organization such as GATT/WTO accounted for another
285%. The container accounted for an additional 790%, exceeding all the other trade growth
factors put together. The diffusion and adaptation of transport modes to containerization is
an ongoing process which will eventually reach a level of saturation. Containers have thus
become the most important component for rail and maritime intermodal transportation.
The challenge remains about the choice of modes in an intermodal transport chain as well as
minimizing the costs and delays related to moving containers between modes.
Advantages of containerization

Standard transport product. A container can be manipulated anywhere in the world

as its dimensions are an ISO standard. Indeed, transfer infrastructures allow all
elements (vehicles) of a transport chain to handle it with relative ease.
Standardization is a prevalent benefit of containerization as it conveys a ubiquity to
access the distribution system and reduces the risks of capital investment in modes
and terminals. The rapid diffusion of containerization was facilitated by the fact that
its initiator, Malcolm McLean, purposely did not patent his invention. Consequently,
all segments of the industry, competitors alike, had access to the standard. It
necessitated the construction of specialized ships and of lifting equipment, but in
several instances existing transport modes can be converted to container
transportation.

Flexibility of usage. A container can transport a wide variety of goods ranging from
raw materials (coal, wheat), manufactured goods, and cars to frozen products. There
are specialized containers for transporting liquids (oil and chemical products) and
perishable food items in refrigerated containers (called "reefers" which now account
for 50% of all refrigerated cargo being transported). About 2.3 million TEUs of
reefers were being used by 2013. Discarded containers are often used as storage,
housing, office and retail structures.

Management. The container, as an indivisible unit, carries a unique identification

number and a size type code enabling transport management not in terms of loads,
but in terms of unit. This identification number is also used to insure that it is carried
by an authorized agent of the cargo owner and is verified at terminal gates.
Computerized management enables to reduce waiting times considerably and to
know the location of containers (or batches of containers) at any time. It enables to
assign containers according to the priority, the destination and the available
transport capacities. Transport companies book slots in maritime or railway convoys
that they use to distribute containers under their responsibility. As such, the
container has become a production, transport and distribution unit.

Economies of scale. Relatively to bulk, container transportation reduces transport

costs considerably, about 20 times less. While before containerization maritime
transport costs could account between 5 and 10% of the retail price, this share has
been reduced to about 1.5%, depending on the goods being transported. The main
factors behind costs reductions reside in the speed and flexibility incurred by
containerization. Similar to other transportation modes, container shipping is
benefiting from economies of scale with the usage of larger containerships. The
6,000 TEUs landmark was surpassed in 1996 with the Regina Maersk and in 2006 the
Emma Maersk surpassed the 12,000 TEU landmark. By 2013, ships of more than
18,000 TEU became available. A 5,000 TEU containership has operating costs per
container 50% lower than a 2,500 TEU vessel. Moving from 4,000 TEU to 12,000 TEU
reduces operating costs per container by a factor of 20%, which is very significant
considering the additional volume involved. System-wide the outcome has been
costs reductions of about 35% by the use of containerization.

Speed. Transshipment operations are minimal and rapid, which increase the
utilization level of the modal assets and port productivity. A modern container ship
has a monthly capacity of 3 to 6 times more than a conventional cargo ship. This is
notably attributable to gains in transshipment time as a crane can handle roughly 30
movements (loading or unloading) per hour. Port turnaround times have thus been
reduced from an average of 3 weeks in the 1960s to less than 24 hours, since it is
uncommon for a ship to be fully loaded or unloaded along regular container
 shipping routes. It takes on average between 10 and 20 hours to unload 1,000 TEUs
compared to between 70 and 100 hours for a similar quantity of bulk freight. With
larger containerships, more cranes can be allocated to transshipment; 3 to 4 cranes
can service a 5,000 TEU containership, while ships of 10,000 TEU can be serviced by
5 to 6 cranes. This implies that larger ship sizes do not have much differences in
loading or unloading time, but this requires more yard equipment. A regular
freighter can spend between half and two-third of its useful life in ports. With less
time in ports, containerships can spend more time at sea. Since a ship generates
revenue while at sea, containerships are more profitable. Further, containerships
are on average 35% faster than regular freighter ships (19 knots versus 14 knots).
Put all together, it is estimated that containerization has reduced travel time for
freight by a factor of 80%.

Warehousing. The container limits damage risks for the goods it carries because it is
resistant to shocks and weather conditions. The packaging of goods it contains is
therefore simpler, less expensive and can occupy less volume. This reduces
insurance costs since cargo is less prone to be damaged during transport. Besides,
containers fit together permitting stacking on ships, trains (doublestacking) and on
the ground. It is possible to superimpose three loaded and six empty containers on
the ground. The container is consequently its own warehouse.

Security. The contents of the container are anonymous to outsiders as it can only be
opened at the origin, at customs and at the destination. Thefts, especially those of
valuable commodities, are therefore considerably reduced, which results in lower
insurance premiums. Theft was a serious issue at ports before containerization as
longshoremen had direct access to the cargo they were handling.

Challenges of Containerization

Site constraints. Containerization implies a large consumption of terminal space. To

fully load or unload a containership of 5,000 TEU a minimum of 12 hectares of
stacking space is required. Conventional port areas are often not adequate for the
location of container transshipment infrastructures, particularly because of draft
issues as well as required space for terminal operations. Many container vessels
require a draft of at least 14 meters (45 feet) and the later generation of larger ships
require at least 15 meters (50 feet). A similar challenge applies to container rail
terminals; many being relocated at the periphery of metropolitan areas.
Consequently, major container handling facilities have new location criteria where
suitable sites are only found at the periphery.

Infrastructure costs. Container handling infrastructures, such as gantry cranes, yard

equipment, road and rail access, represent important investments for port
authorities and load centers. For instance, the costs of a modern container crane
(portainer) are in the range of 4 to 10 million USD depending on the size. Several
developing countries as well as smaller ports face the challenge of finding capital for
these infrastructure investments.

Stacking. The arrangement of containers, both at terminals and on modes

(containerships and double-stack trains) is a complex problem. At the time of
loading, it becomes imperative to make sure that containers that must be taken out
first are not below the pile. Further, containerships must be loaded in a way to avoid
any restacking along its numerous port calls where containers are loaded and
unloaded.
 Thefts and losses. While many theft issues have been addressed because of the
freight anonymity a container confers, it remains an issue for movements outside
terminals where the contents of the container can be assessed based upon its final
destination. The World Shipping Council estimated that on average 546 containers
are lost at sea each year under normal operating conditions and 1679 containers if
events such as ship collisions and sinking are included. Rough weather is the major
cause of container losses, but improper container stacking also plays a role
(distribution of heavy containers). Yet, the loss rate remains very low since 5 to 6
million containers are being transported at any given time.

Empty travel. Maritime shippers need containers to maintain their operations along
the port networks they service. The same number of containers brought into a
market must thus eventually be relocated, regardless if they are full or empty. On
average containers will spend about 56% of their 10 to 15 years lifespan idle or
being repositioned empty, which is not generating any income but convey a cost
that is part of the shipping rates. Either full or empty, a container takes the same
amount of space on the ship or in a storage yard and takes the same amount of time
to be transshipped. Due to a divergence between production and consumption, it is
uncommon to see an equilibrium in the distribution of containers. About 2.5 million
TEUs of empty containers are stored in yards and depots around the world,
underlining the issue of the movement and accumulation of empty containers. They
represent about 20% of the global container port throughput and of the volume
carried by maritime shipping lines. Most container trade is imbalanced, and thus
containers "accumulate" in some places and must be shipped back to locations
where there have deficits (mostly locations having a strong export function). This is
particularly the case for American container shipping. As a result, shipping lines
waste substantial amounts of time and money in repositioning empty containers.

Illicit trade. By its confidential character, the container is a common instrument

used in the illicit trade of counterfeit goods, drugs and weapons. Concerns have also
been raised about containers being used for terrorism. These fears have given rise to
an increasing number of regulations aimed at counteracting illegal use of containers.
In 2003, following US inspection requirements the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) introduced regulations regarding the security of port sites and
the vetting of workers in the shipping industry. The US, itself established a 24 hour
rule, requiring all shipments destined for the US to receive clearance from US
authorities 24 hours prior to the departure of the vessel. In 2008, the US Congress
passed a regulation requiring all US-bound containers to be electronically scanned at
the foreign port of loading, prior to departure. Needless to say, these measures
incur additional costs and delays that many in the industry oppose.
Terminal Handling Equipment

Quay Crane
Yard Crane
AGVs
ASCs

Quay crane

Every terminal has one or more quay cranes, also referred to as gantry cranes (Solomenikov,
2006). They are located on the shoreline of the port terminals and carry containers along
arms which slide back and forth as they work a vessel. Quay cranes can winch up about 40 to
100 tons and load/unload 25 to 50 containers per hour (Huynh & Walton, 2005). The
modern quay cranes can lift two containers at a time and could reach 22 rows of containers
across a ship (Huynh & Walton, 2005); which is equal to about an outreach of 60 meters or
more.

Figure 1.4 Quay crane in Rotterdam

Yard Crane

Yard cranes are used in container storage yards to load or unload containers onto or from
prime movers such as trailers. There are three types of yard cranes: Rail Mounted Gantry
Cranes (RMG), Rubber Tired Gantry Cranes (RTG), and Overhead Bridge Cranes (OBC)
(Solomenikov, 2006). RTG (see Figure 2.4) is the most common type of yard crane used in
chassis storage (Huynh & Walton, 2005). Straddle carriers are also used in storage yards (see
Figure 2.5). They are more flexible and mobile than yard cranes, but require more land
(Solomenikov, 2006). A straddle carrier can stack at most 1 container wide and 2 containers
high whereas a yard crane can stack up to 7 containers wide and 5 containers high (Huynh &
Walton, 2005).
Figure 1.5 Yard Crane

AGVs

AGV is a system that moves following a line from one point to another point regarding to it
given task. With the application of AGV system can ease the strain on human workers by
performing tiring task such as lifting and carrying heavy material (Jusin, 2012).

Figure 1.6 AGV

ASCs

Automated stacking cranes (ASCs) are cranes, able to completely operate without human
interaction as long as they interact with automated transfer vehicles. However, if ASCs are to
interact with non-automated vehicles (e.g., external trucks), the pickup (and deposit) moves
from (to) non-automated vehicles is done manually for safety reasons (Carlo et al, 2013)

Figure 1.7 ASC

Container Terminal Operations

In this section, some of the key operations included in Terminal Operations Planning are
going to be discussed. These operations are held in the arrival of the vessel till the
transshipment process. Examples of operation planning are berth planning, quay crane (QC)
scheduling, loading/unload sequencing, and space planning (Bse, 2011). Some resources
are classified as key resources because of their high cost and the consequent expense in
increasing their capacity. Key resources may include berths, QCs, and storage spaces in most
container terminals.

Figure 1.8 Terminal Operations Process

Berth allocation planning

The berth planning process schedules the usage of the quay by vessels. For the berth
planning process, the information on vessel calls (ship ID of each call, the route, ports of the
call, etc.), vessel specifications (length, width, tonnage, etc.), and hatch cover structure are
transferred from a corresponding shipping line to the terminal. The information is then
registered into the berth planning system of the terminal. The berthing positions for some
vessels are pre-allocated at dedicated berths which are based on the contracts between
shipping lines and the terminal (Kim and Lee, 2015).

Berth planning is the process of determining the berthing position and time of each vessel
and the deployment of QCs to the vessel in a way of maximizing the service level for
container vessels. It is desirable that vessel operations are completed within an operation
time pre-specified by a mutual agreement between the corresponding ship carrier and the
terminal operator. The QC deployment that determines the start and the end times for a QC
serves a vessel and must satisfy the limitation in the total number of available QCs. Berth
planning and QC deployment are inter-related because the number of QCs to be assigned to
a vessel affects the berthing duration of the vessel. In addition, when the outbound
containers for a vessel have already arrived at the yard, the vessel berths should be close to
the storage area with the outbound containers.

The most applicable objective function is to minimize the total delay of each vessel
departure, beyond their committed departure times without neglecting the importance of
the bargaining power of each corresponding carrier. The second popular objective is to
minimize the total flow time of vessels, which means the total turnaround time of vessels
(Park and Kim, 2003).
Moreover, certain constraints must be taken into consideration when determining the
berthing positions of vessels such as the depth of water along the quay and the maximum
outreach of QCs installed at specific positions on the quay.

Continuous Quay Assumption. Berth planning is a well-defined problem much discussed in

the literature. The quay may be considered to be the set of multiple discrete berths or a
continuous line on which a vessel can berth at any position. The berth planning problem had
been considered to be an assignment problem of each vessel to a berth under the
assumption of discrete berths, whereas some researchers have recently started to consider
the problem of determining the exact position of each vessel on a continuous quay (Imai et
al. 2005).

Dynamic Berth Planning and Re-planning. A container terminal makes a contract with
shipping lines for regular calling services, weekly in most of cases. Because ships arrival
times, which depend on weather conditions, ships operating environment, or the departure
time from the preceding port, and the working conditions of the current terminal may
change at any time, the berthing times and vessel positions need to be continuously
changed. Therefore, planning processes and algorithms need to be studied considering these
situations. The robustness may be an important property of a good berth plan (Hendriks et
al. 2010).

Considering Traffic in the Quay and the Yard. At multi-berth terminals, berth planning is
conducted to minimize any interference between docked vessels and berthing vessels, which
may happen during the arrival and departure of vessels. When the traffic of containers for
two vessels cross in the yard during shipping operation, the interference between the traffic
may seriously delay the ship operation. Transshipment containers may be a source of traffic
to be considered. These factors need to be considered during berth planning for more
efficient operation of terminals (Kim and Lee, 2015).

Considering Tidal Difference Ports with a large tidal difference have a further issue requiring
consideration during the berth scheduling for large vessels. Some ports have bridge piers to
overcome the large tidal difference. Even so, berth planners must consider the water depth
at the vessel arrival and departure times in order to confirm berthing feasibility. The
changing water depths of the channels for vessels to approach the terminal also need to be
considered in some ports. Many container terminals have similar restrictions in the timing of
berthing or de-berthing (Kim and Lee, 2015).

Quay Crane (QC) Work Scheduling

Outbound containers of the same size and with the same destination port, which have to be
loaded onto the same ship, are categorized under the same container group. Likewise,
inbound containers of the same size that have to be unloaded by the same ship are said to
be categorized under the same container group. Containers in the same group are usually
transferred consecutively by the same QC.

When the discharging and loading operations must be performed at the same ship bay, the
discharging operation must precede the loading operation. When the discharging operation
is performed in a ship bay, the containers on the deck must be transferred before the
containers in the hold are unloaded. Further, the loading operation in the hold must precede
the loading operation on the deck of the same ship bay. It should also be noted that the QCs
travel on the same track. Thus, certain clusters of slots cannot be transferred simultaneously
when the locations of the two clusters are too close to each other, because the two adjacent
QCs must be separated by at least a specific number of ship bays so that the transfer
operations can be performed simultaneously without interference (Moccia 2006; Sammarra
et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2008; Meisel 2009).
Loading/Unloading Sequencing

The sequencing is done in the following process: when a vessel is berthed starboard against
berth, unloading work sequences in a bay profile at deck are sequentially decided from
starboard to portside. A container lashing operation is to remove fixation devices (corn,
lashing bar, etc.) before unloading operation and to fix them after loading operation. While
planning the unload (load) sequence, consideration needs to be given to the removal (fixing)
of corns and lashing bars from (to) containers on the board of a vessel, which tends to move
in the horizontal direction at tier by tier. The unloading or loading work sequence in a bay
profile at hold tends to move in the vertical direction stack by stack. The loading plan should
satisfy the general stowage plan, which is received from the shipping line and specifies the
port of destination and the weight group of the container to be loaded onto each slot. Of
course, the travel distances of trucks during the ship operation and the re-shuffling for
picking up the container should also be considered for the load sequencing (Kim and Lee,
2015).

Stacking of containers

Two ways of storing containers can be distinguished: storing on a chassis and stacking on the
ground. With a chassis system each container is individually accessible. With stacking on the
ground containers can be piled up, which means that not every container is directly
accessible. As a consequence of limited storage space, nowadays stacking on the ground is
most common (Vis and de Koster, 2003).

The stack is the place where import and export containers can be stored for a certain period.
The stack is divided into multiple blocks/ lanes, each consisting of a number of rows. The
height of stacking varies per terminal between two and eight containers high. At the end of
each lane a transfer point is situated. At this point the crane takes/places the container
off/on the vehicle that transports the container. Empty containers are usually stored
separately.

In the stacking process systems like forklift trucks, reach stackers, yard cranes and straddle
carriers can be chosen. Yard cranes move on rubber tires or on rails over the containers.
They can provide high density storage and can be automated with the use of AGVs and ASCs.

Most of the described terminal operations have their origin and destination at the stack, for
instance the transport of containers from the stack to the ship. Therefore, efficient stacking
is necessary to ensure that the remaining operations can be carried out effectively. To reach
a specific container it can be necessary to move containers that are placed on top of the
demanded container. To minimize delay by removing containers, reshuffling of the stack can
be done in advance. On the other hand, the higher the stacking the less ground space is
needed for the same number of containers.
Inter-terminal and Intermodal Transportation

Containers have to be transported from the stack to other modes of transportation, like
barges, rail and road (Vis and de Koster, 2003). This inter-terminal transport (often seen as
horizontal terminal transport) can be carried out by vehicles like multi-trailer systems and
automated guided vehicles. In certain terminals it is possible that containers are put directly
on, for example, trains without using transport vehicles.

Figure 1.9 Multi-trailer systems

Final stage of the terminals operations is when the container gets intermodal
transportation. The most popular modes used are rail and road.

Operation at the railhead is analogous to the quayside operation. A loading plan describes
on which wagon a container has to be placed. The wagon position of a container depends on
its destination, type and weight, the maximum load of the wagon and the wagons position
in the train sequence. A loading plan is either produced by the railway company and sent by
EDI to the terminal operator or by the terminal operator himself. The aim of the rail
operator is to minimize shunting activities during train transport while the aim of the
terminal operator is to minimize the number of yard reshuffles, to minimize the crane
waiting times and the empty transport distances of cranes and transport vehicles.
Optimization at the railhead is facilitated if only a stowage instruction is sent to the terminal
operator which indicates the wagon position for container attributes instead of specific
positions for each container. The yard situation then can be reflected. Transport and crane
activities have to be synchronized to avoid unnecessary crane waiting times or movements.
Single- and dual-cycle mode exist depending on whether one or several trains are loaded
and unloaded in parallel (Steenken et al, 2004).

Trucks arrive at the terminals in-gate where the data of the containers have to be checked
and filed into the computer system or actualized in case of pre-advice. Trucks then drive to
transition points where the containers are loaded or unloaded by internal equipment. Large
container terminals serve some thousand trucks a day.
Transition points are located either at the stack crane or inside the yard in case of straddle
carrier operation. A truck driving schedule prescribes which points have to be accessed in
which sequence. The arrival time of the trucks at the transition points cannot be precisely
foreseen, i.e., transport jobs for the internal equipment cannot be released until the truck
arrives at the transition point. Because of the permanently changing traffic volume,
optimization has to be very flexible and fast.
Online optimization is demanded for. Minimizing empty distances and travel times are the
objectives of optimization at the truck operation area. Empty distances can be minimized if
transports of export containers from the transition point to the yard are combined with
transports of import containers from the yard to the interchange point.