2013 Session: 677

• Truck-to-Door Assignment at Cross-Dock Facility with Controllable Handling Times
  Abstract: This paper studies the inbound truck-to-door assignment problem at a cross-dock facility with controllable truck handling times. In particular, the handling time of a truck is discretely defined by the number of workers (or material handling equipment) assigned to a door. The cross-dock operator aims at minimizing the total labor cost by determining the number of workers allocated at each door as well as the truck-to-door assignment. We first discuss a branch-and-price method for the problem of interest. Then, two evolutionary heuristic methods are discussed. Numerical studies are conducted to compare the branch-and-price method to the evolutionary heuristics.
  Authors: Konur, Dincer; Golias, Mihalis M.
  Authors: Konur, Dincer; Golias, Mihalis M.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Marine Transportation; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-0883
• U.S. Transition to Motor Carrier-Supplied Marine Chassis: Operational Impacts on and off Terminal
  Abstract: Ocean Carriers serving the United States have traditionally provided chassis to move their containers to and from customers. Because of the high cost of providing chassis and the increasing government concerns over the safety and roadability, ocean carriers have provided notice to their customers that they will no longer provide chassis in the U.S. While change in the short term is difficult, a change in ownership may improve safety, supply chain productivity and equipment utilization among other operating variables. This paper analyzes how intermodal performance, inside and outside the terminal gates, might change as ownership and management of the chassis fleet changes. Keywords: chassis, chassis supply, intermodal freight, intermodal terminals, intermodal operations, intermodal terminal design, terminal technology, terminal design
  Authors: Zumerchik, John
  Authors: Zumerchik, John
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Marine Transportation; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-4625
• Storage Space Allocation at Marine Container Terminals Using Ant-Based Control
  Abstract: This paper presents a novel approach for allocating containers to storage blocks in a marine container terminal. We modeled the container terminal as a network of gate, yard blocks and berths on which export and import containers are considered as bi-directional traffic. For both export and import containers, the yard blocks are the intermediate storage points between gates (landside) and berths (waterside). Our model determines the route for each individual container (i.e. assign the container to a block to be stored) based on two competing objectives 1) balance the workload among yard blocks, and 2) minimize the distance traveled by internal trucks between yard blocks and berths. The model utilized an ant-based control method. It exploits the trail laying behavior of ant colonies where ants deposit pheromones as a function of 1) traveled distance and 2) yard crane workload severity at the blocks. The route of a container (i.e. selection of a yard block) is based on the pheromone distribution on the network. The results from experiments showed that the proposed approach effectively balances the workload among yard blocks and reduces the distance traveled by internal transport vehicles during vessel loading and unloading operations.
  Authors: Sharif, Omor; Huynh, Nathan N.
  Authors: Sharif, Omor; Huynh, Nathan N.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Marine Transportation; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-4679
• Agent-Based Simulation Tool for Evaluating Pooled Queue Performance at Marine Container Terminals
  Abstract: Truck queuing at marine container terminal gates is one of the main sources of delay at terminals and is an area of concern since delays increase the logistical cost of transporting a container. Idling trucks at the gates are also a source of emissions that are harmful to surrounding environments. With the growing focus on global warming and reducing greenhouse gases, increasing importance has been placed on finding alternative strategies for reducing delays at the gates. Previous studies focused on the performance of strategies such as the appointment system and extended gate hours. However, there has yet to be a study that evaluates the performance of pooling trucks into a single queue at the gates. Previous studies on pooling offer mixed opinions on whether or not it is beneficial, but none of these studies have attempted to model the movements of the entities in the queue. In a human system (no vehicles) the movements are not as important since the time to move up one space in the queue is negligible; however, due to the size and weight of the trucks at the gates, the time to move is significant and should be considered. This study used agent based simulation to model the terminal gate system with two different queuing strategies, a pooled queue and non-pooled queues, since analytical solutions are not capable of capturing vehicle movements within the queue. Using a car-following model, a realistic representation of how vehicles move within the queue is captured. The developed simulation model was used to evaluate queuing strategies under varying conditions. Results indicate that using a pooled queue yields significantly lower average queuing times and variability in queuing times.
  Authors: Fleming, Matthew; Huynh, Nathan N.; Xie, Yuanchang
  Authors: Fleming, Matthew; Huynh, Nathan N.; Xie, Yuanchang
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Marine Transportation; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities; Rail; Freight Transportation
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-2936
  Practice-Ready: Yes
• Truck-to-Door Assignment at Cross-Dock Facility with Controllable Handling Times
  Authors: Golias, Mihalis
  Authors: Golias, Mihalis
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-0883
• Agent-Based Simulation Tool for Evaluating Pooled Queue Performance at Marine Container Terminals
  Authors: Huynh, Nathan
  Authors: Huynh, Nathan
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-2936
• Storage Space Allocation at Marine Container Terminals Using Ant-Based Control
  Authors: Sharif, Omor
  Authors: Sharif, Omor
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-4679
• U.S. Transition to Motor Carrier-Supplied Marine Chassis: Operational Impacts on and off Terminal
  Authors: Zumerchik, John
  Authors: Zumerchik, John
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Rail; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Terminals and Facilities
  Session: 677
  Paper Number: 13-4625