Hybrid MPC for balancing throughput and energy consumption in an automated container terminal

The performance of container terminals needs to be improved to adapt to the growth of handled containers and maintain sustainability. This paper provides a methodology to balance the throughput and energy consumption of equipment inside a container terminal. The behaviors of different types of equipment in the container terminal are modeled as a collection of interconnected hybrid systems. Model predictive control is proposed for balancing the performance of the container terminal. A simulation study illustrates how setting a penalty on energy consumption influences the throughput of the container terminal on the one hand, and sustainability on the other hand.