Abstract
In recent years, a lot of work has been done for supporting the operational management of container handling operations in seaports. However, the train-to-train container transshipment problem, in which containers have to be interchanged between trains, has been largely ignored. Containers are handled by rail mounted cranes. The time needed for completing the transshipments using multiple cranes is to be minimised. The contribution of this paper is to put forward a metaheuristic approach to deal with this challenging problem that has not been tackled before. The problem is first decomposed into three subproblems: (1) the assignment of a destination to each train, (2) the determination of container positions on the train wagons and (3) the determination of the operations sequence for the different cranes that perform the actual transshipments. The first subproblem is solved in a heuristic manner while the second subproblem is solved to optimality. The third subproblem is tackled by a Variable NeighbourhoodDescentmetaheuristic procedure. This approach is validated on a set of generated test problems. Solutions are obtained in a reasonable amount of calculation time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alicke, K., Arnold, D., Nienhaus, J., Franke, K.: Modeling and optimization of the intermodal terminal mega hub. In: The International Workshop on Harbour, Maritime and Industrial Logistics Modelling and Simulation, HMS 1999. Genua (1999)
Baar, T., Brucker, P., Knust, S.: Meta-heuristics: advances and trends in local search paradigms for optimization, chap. Tabu-search algorithms and lower bounds for the resource-constrained project scheduling problem, pp. 1–8. Kluwer, Dordrecht (1999)
Bostel, N., Dejax, P.: Models and algorithms for container allocation problems on trains in a rapid transshipment shunting yard. Transport. Sci. 32(4), 370–379 (1998)
Corry, P., Kozan, E.: An assignment model for dynamic load planning of intermodal trains. Comput. Oper. Res. 33, 1–17 (2006)
Craeye, S., De Schepper, P.: Automatic transshipment planning of containers in an intermodal train terminal. Master’s thesis, Centre for Industrial Management, Catholic University of Leuven (2007)
Froyland, G., Koch, T., Megow, N., Duane, E., Wren, H.: Optimizing the landside operation of a container terminal. OR Spectrum 30, 53–75 (2008)
Hansen, P., Mladenovic, N.: Variable neighborhood search. In: Handbook of Metaheuristics, pp. 145–184. Kluwer, Dordrecht (2003)
Hartmann, S.: A competitive genetic algorithm for resource-constrained project scheduling. Nav. Res. Logist. 45, 733–750 (1998)
Kuhn, H.: The hungarian method for the assignment problem. Nav. Res. Logist. Q. 2, 83–97 (1955)
Montemanni, R., Rizzoli, A., Smith, D., Gambardella, L.: Sequential ordering problems for crane scheduling in port terminals. In: Proceedings of HMS 2008 – The 11th Intermodal Workshop on Harbor, Maritime and Multimodal Logistic Modeling and Simulation (2008)
Ng, W.C.: Crane scheduling in container yards with inter-crane interference. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 164(1), 64–78 (2005)
Parragh, S., Doerner, K., Hartl, R.: A survey on pickup and delivery models: Part I: Transportation between customers and depot. J. Betriebswirtschaft 58(1), 21–51 (2008)
Parragh, S., Doerner, K., Hartl, R.: A survey on pickup and delivery models: Part II: Transportation between pickup and delivery locations. J. Betriebswirtschaft 58(2), 81–117 (2008)
Pinson, E., Prins, C., Rullier, F.: Using tabu search for solving the resource-constrained project scheduling problem. In: Proceedings of the fourth international workshop on project management and scheduling, pp. 102–106 (1994)
Stahlbock, R., Voß, S.: Operations research at container terminals: a literature update. OR Spectrum 30(1), 1–52 (2008)
Steenken, D., Voß, S., Stahlbock, R.: Container terminal operation and operations research – a classification and literature review. OR Spectrum 26, 3–49 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Souffriau, W., Vansteenwegen, P., Berghe, G.V., Oudheusden, D.V. (2009). Variable Neighbourhood Descent for Planning Crane Operations in a Train Terminal. In: Sörensen, K., Sevaux, M., Habenicht, W., Geiger, M. (eds) Metaheuristics in the Service Industry. Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, vol 624. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00939-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00939-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-00938-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-00939-6
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)