Impact Analysis of Mega Vessels on Container Terminal Operations

Mega vessels currently play a vital role in maritime transportation and their deployment may have significant impacts on container terminal operations. This study is concerned with the impact analysis of mega vessels on container terminal operations. First, the container operation process at a container terminal is formulated as a queuing network. Based on the queuing network, a simulation model is then developed. Because of the computational complexity of the simulation, the ARENA (c) software tool is used to solve the developed model, based on a realistic case involving the Hong Kong port. The case analysis comprises ten scenarios that represent current and possible future situations regarding the utilization of more mega container vessels. The results suggest that the current port facilities may not be sufficient to accommodate more mega container vessels. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.