Simulation and Optimisation for Management of Intermodal Terminals

This paper presents a decision support system for improving the management of intermodal container terminals. It is implemented as a modular architecture which integrates a forecasting model, a planner and a simulation module. While the forecasting module estimates container traffic, the planning module uses this information to generate efficient policies for storage, resource allocation and scheduling. The performance of management policies is assessed via computer simulation. Genetic algorithms, taboo search, and dynamic programming techniques are used to implement management policies. Some experimental results are presented.