Optimum number of automated shuttles driven by linear motors in an container terminal

The emergence of huge container ships together with the scarcity of yard land put an enormous pressure on authorities to adopt advanced technologies to increase the throughput of current container terminals. Automated Container Terminals (ACT), using advanced material handling technologies, are recently considered as candidates for increasing the performance of manually operated yards. In this paper, an ACT that employs Linear Motor Technology is designed. A multi attribute decision making method is employed to find the optimum number of conveyor shuttles in the terminal. Simulations demonstrate a double increase in the throughput of ACT compared to the similar one with manual operations.