In this paper the authors deal with the discrete space berth scheduling problem at marine container terminals. Determining the best berth schedule depends on several factors including the type and function of the port, size of the port, location, nearby competition, and type of contractual agreement between the terminal and the carriers. In this paper the authors present a new environmentally friendly berth scheduling policy with the objective to: a) maximize the berth productivity by minimizing the total service time and delayed departures for all the vessels, and b) minimize the total emissions and fuel consumption for all the vessels while in transit totheir next port of call. A Genetic Algorithms based heuristic is presented to solve the resulting problem and a number of computational examples are presented to evaluate the proposed berth scheduling policy.
Samenvatting