Minimizing delay of ships in bulk terminals by simultaneous ship scheduling, stockyard planning and train scheduling

Abstract

Because of an increase in population, the demand for coal has drastically risen with millions of tons of coal being imported annually through Indian ports. To accommodate with this rise in demand, there has been an increase in the concern over proper ship scheduling and effective stockyard management. This article focuses on these aspects, as well as train scheduling, in the context of coal imports in port terminals. The article employs two heuristic-based greedy construct algorithms to improve port terminal throughput capacity by minimizing the delay of ships in port terminal. Applicability and validity of the model is tested on the database of a port located along the east coast of India.