Mirano Hess

Assignment of Stochastic Models for the Domain of Port Terminal Operations

Abstract The paper presents the optimization possibilities of port terminal operations in order to generate maximum gain. Planning these processes is a demanding daily task taken on before dealing with port management, since transhipment operations, cargo loading and dispatching, maintenance and control of transhipment and transportation means are subject to hardly predictable and unexpectable stochastic conditions under which planning optimal terminal operations will include the examination of stochastic processes on the terminal. A model of states and transitions with gain and a model of optimal strategies in terminal management are set up. Furthermore, a model for determining the structure of transhipment equipment is developed. The devised models were adapted to the specificities of a port terminal and tested using the sample of a general cargo terminal.

Multi-objective ship's cargo handling model

This paper proposes a new optimization model for ships cargo handling operations which solution gives the structure of cargo handling resources required, along with attaining the minimum total ‘in-port’ costs and the minimum of time required for completion of cargo operations. Due to complexity of the model which consists of composite multi-objective functions together with several decision variables and constraints, the solution has been sought by utilization of an adapted genetic algorithm combined with a hybrid algorithm. Testing of the model on real world data yielded acceptable results in a short time. In the course of decision making, the ships operator can, on the basis of the proposed model and taking into consideration shipping market data, choose appropriate variation of the returned solution, which incorporates minimum costs, minimum of operational time and related cargo handling resources.