A Simulation Model for Analysing Terminal Management Operations

Globally, container terminals are trying to expand capacity and increase performance at a minimum of investments. Often the container terminal operations are changing to meet increased customer demands as well as to adapt to new technologies. This paper proposes a simulation model for container terminal system analysis. A simulation model is developed, called SIMPORT, which uses a Multi-Agents Systems approach that provides a modular and scalable method of modeling the entities in the container terminal domain. SIMPORT is used to test various berth assignment management polices and yard stacking management policies in the context of a case study of a major container terminal in India. The results indicate that by arranging the stacks according the ‘ship profile’, the port in India was able to reduce the waiting time of container ships and thus save costs. The increasing costs of container terminal development do justify the use of computer simulation to assist in planning and policy making.