The tactical berth allocation problem with time-variant specific quay crane assignments

Decision support systems and automated planning have become essential for the effective management of seaport container terminals. Due to ever-increasing levels maritime traffic freight transportation, terminals are expected facilitate their intra-yard operations while respecting tighter vessel schedules. Employed models must therefore be capable providing berth allocation decisions which not only efficient, but also physically realizable. The present paper addresses continuous Berth Allocation problem with Specific Quay Crane Assignments, aim being minimize transshipment distances within terminal yard. An integrated mathematical formulation is presented considers various real-world properties such as limited crane ranges quay discontinuity. Based on this formulation, we introduce a fast local search-based heuristic, accommodating both fixed flexible departure time settings. proposed heuristic evaluated upon set instances cover wide range diverse layout specifications solutions compared against those obtained by state-of-the-art commercial solver. Experimental results confirm effectiveness demonstrate how significantly improved schedules can when departures permitted.