A study of container berth allocation

This study is based on a major container terminal operator in Hong Kong. Container terminals form a link in the transport chain for transhipment and temporary storage of containers. The service time for vessels including waiting time for berthing must be minimal in order to reduce costs for shipping lines. The use of heuristics and computer simulation to measure different allocation strategies is demonstrated. The existing performance measures of allocation are evaluated and prioritized. Three sets of allocation policies are developed to tackle the day-to-day allocation problems with a view to increasing operational efficiency and enhancing customer service levels. Results show that all three proposed allocation policies have substantial improvements over the existing policy.