Models for support maritime logistics: A case study for improving terminal planning

Container terminals world wide are trying to expand capacity and increase performance at a minimum of investments. Often the container terminal operations are changing to meet increased customer demands as well as to adapt to new technologies. The increasing costs of container terminal development do justify the use of computer simulation to assist in planning and policy making. The use of specific mathematical models for supporting yard operations optimization is turning to be the key of the next generation Decision Support Systems, the paper outline the integration between a flexible simulator which represents the marine-side operations of a container terminal with a Linear Programming model for improving berth assignment management polices and yard stacking management policies. \ua9 ECMS, 2005