An investigation into berth and quay crane scheduling for container terminals based on knowledge

Berth and quay crane scheduling is one of the most complex parts in container terminal operations, which significantly affects the operational efficiency, energy consumption and operational cost of the entire container terminal. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient berth and quay crane scheduling strategy from the perspective of knowledge, which aims at saving energy consumption and improving operational efficiency. This study initially performs knowledge acquisition for berth and quay crane scheduling. And then, completes knowledge sorting process, including taxonomic tree generation and organization of acquired knowledge. After that, extract rules for berth and quay crane scheduling using the IF and THEN clause. Furthermore, designs a reasoning mechanism. Finally, a case study illustrates the proposed strategy and verifies the effectiveness and reliability.