A bi-objective model for robust berth allocation scheduling

Berth allocation is an important port operation problem for container terminals. This paper studies how to develop a robust schedule for berth allocation that incorporates a degree of anticipation of uncertainty (e.g., vessels’ arrival time and operation time) during the schedule’s execution. This study proposes a bi-objective optimization model for minimizing cost and maximizing robustness of schedules. A heuristic is also developed for solving the bi-objective model in large-scale problem cases. Numerical experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model and method. Managerial implications are also discussed.

► This paper studies how to develop a robust schedule for berth allocation under uncertainty.
► A bi-objective optimization model is proposed with minimizing cost and maximizing robustness of schedules.
► A meta-heuristic is proposed for efficiently solving our model in large-scale problem cases.
► Some managerial implications are drawn out from experimental results.