A computational framework for the safe movement of Automated Straddle Carriers in ports

Automated Straddle Carriers (ASCs) are in the forefront of port automation and are increasingly used to move containers efficiently. The purpose of this article is the development of a computational framework to investigate the effects of the introduction of Automated Straddle Carriers in ports, both from an operational and a strategic level. The framework contains a fleet management algorithm that performs assignment, route optimization and collision avoidance and its results are used to calculate metrics that are further used as an input to a simulation model. Several scenarios are simulated on both parts of the framework and the main results illustrate that port automation should not be solely focused on automated straddle carriers, but should include automation in all processes of the port to fully exploit the benefits