Evaluating Container Terminal Transhipment Operational Policies: An Agent-Based Simulation Approach

The problem of analysing operational policies for transhipping containers in a port container terminal is studied using an agent-based simulation approach. The decision makers involved in transhipment operations, i.e., the terminal manager, the port captain, the stevedores and the ship captains, as well as some of the operators of the physical resources, such as cranes and straddle carriers, are modelled as agents. A simulator, called SimPort, has been developed to illustrate the viability of this approach, To exemplify its usage, it has been configured based on real data from container terminals and used for comparing eight operational policies in several scenarios. The policies concern the sequencing of ships, berth allocation, and stacking rule. The policies are evaluated with respect to a number of aspects, such as, turn-around time for ships and travelled distance of straddle carriers. Key-Words: Container Terminal, Agent-Based Simulation, Transhipment Operations, Berth Allocation,