Simulation On Integrated Berth And Quay Crane Assignment Of Container Terminal Based On Queuing Theory

Recently, with the development of the container port and the deep water channel,how to assign port berth number and port machine number reasonably to improve thehandling ability of single berth and the quality of port services has become the focusof port development. With the growth of the terminal throughput, increasing the quaycrane number will improve the handling ability of single berth, decrease the time aship waiting for berth and a ship loading on the berth, and decrease the cost of a shipat berth. But there is an upper limit of the quay crane number of single berth workingat the same time, if the throughput sustained growth, the berth number has to beincreased. On the other hand, the number of berth and quay crane increase means theincreasing of port’s investment. In this article, we are discussing the appropriate quaycrane number of single berth and the appropriate berth number and quay cranenumber in ways of computer simulation. To find the most appropriate berth numberand quay number can maximize the efficiency of port and ship.In this article, we first elaborate the queuing theory and its use in containerterminal handling process, through theoretical derivation, conclude the ship loadingtime, ship waiting time, the queue length and a series of formulas, which make thetheoretical foundation of the establishment of the computer simulation system forcontainer terminal. Then describe the development of computer simulation technologyand its application in the container terminal, by comparing the feature of severalsimulation software and their scope of application, then choose Arena to make acontainer terminal handling system simulation model, and describe the modelingprocess and the parameters of every module block and give the relationship betweenqueuing theory and computer simulation. Then using a general-purpose containerterminal as a simulation case, giving the selection of every parameters, such as thearriving ship’s loading capacity distribution, the average time between two shiparrives, natural factors, fairway conditions and navigation rules, anchorage and yardscale, berths combination, quay crane, gantry crane and container truck’s number andefficiency, the time run the model and so on. Then running the model conclude theoutcome, and analysis them. On one hand, discussing the appropriate quay crane number of single berth, andchooses the ship cost and AWT/AST as the control factors, that the ship cost is themain control factor, the AWT/AST is the secondary control factor. Using someselection principles, we can get the most appropriate berth number and quay cranenumber of single berth of the combination of different ship average loading capacityand different ship arriving density. And make the conclusion of the relationshipbetween quay number of signal berth and ship cost, berth utilization, AWT/AST, anddraw a general conclusion. On the other hand, finding the appropriate berth numberand quay crane number when the number of berth is unknown, and comparing the twoways of assignment, that is assignment quay crane number alone and assignmentberth number and quay crane number together, and concluding that integrated berthand quay crane assignment is the better way to solve the problem. At last, expoundingthe shortcomings in this article and indicating the direction of future research.