Evaluation of operation cost and energy consumption of ports: comparative study on different container terminal layouts

Automatic container terminals (ACTs) have emerged as the development direction of upgrading and transformation for traditional manual container terminals. A number of terminal layouts are devised and implemented. However, it is the lack of a comprehensive comparison of different container terminal layouts from aspects of operation cost and energy consumption. In view of this, a Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing approach is used to identify the ACT profitability bottlenecks. A multi-agent based simulation model considering four main terminal layouts is established. The multi-level handling of ACTs is simulated and the corresponding operation time and energy consumption are calculated. Simulation results show that automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are the key to improving the cost-effectiveness of ACTs. The cost-effectiveness of ACTs with non-cantilever automated rail-mounted gantries (ARMGs) is more vulnerable than that of ACTs with bilateral cantilever ARMGs. On average, ACTs with bilateral-cantilever ARMGs consume less energy per container task than ACTs with non-cantilever ARMGs. This study provides management insights into resource allocation, layout design, and sustainable development.