Modeling of handling task sequencing to improve crane control strategies in container terminals

Free space to expand the handling area in a container terminal is often not available. Therefore terminal operators have to improve operating strategies to increase the capacity of the terminal. For this purpose the authors developed a handling task sequencing strategy with a priority number for a multi crane module in a container terminal. In this paper this control strategy is compared with other state of the art control strategies to find out which crane control strategy is the best strategy for a container terminal. State of the art strategies only consider terminal specific requirements like travel time improvement, but a container terminal is also subject to market requirements such as short waiting times of the vehicles. Those requirements for terminals are often different so that a handling task sequencing is required which can be adjusted to the specific needs of a terminal.