Yard Cranes Coordination Schemes for Automated Container Terminals: An Agent-based Approach

As the global container traffic continuously rises, container terminals are eager to improve their operation. To increase the efficiency and the service level of the landside containers’ pick-up operation, improving the yard cranes’ coordination schemes can be an option. In this study, we propose three schemes, (i.e. the market-based scheme, the zonal 1-1 scheme, and the zonal scheme 1-2 scheme) for coordinating multiple Rubber-Tyred Gantry (RTG) yard cranes. Using agent based simulation, we evaluate the performance of the proposed coordination alternatives by assessing the trucks’ waiting time, the RTGs’ utilization, and the RTGs’ fuel consumption values.