Berth allocation in a container port: using a continuous location space approach

This paper addresses the berth allocation problem in a multi-user container terminal. There are two typical schemes for berth allocation: one in discrete locations and the other in continuous locations. The former has the advantage of easiness in scheduling but it has a weakness in that terminal usage is not fully efficient. The latter exhibits the complete opposite characteristics. In previous papers, the authors have developed and presented the discrete location version of the berth allocation problem. In view of the steadily growing trend in increasing the container ship size, more flexible berth allocation planning is mandatory, especially in busy hub ports where ships of various sizes are calling. In this paper, a heuristic for the berth allocation problem in continuous locations is presented. A wide variety of experiments were conducted and the results showed that the heuristic works well from a practical point of view. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.