The latest portstudy of PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom jointly developed with Mei Sha, Tao Zhang, Xin Zhou and Tianbao Qin (Shanghai Maritime University) presents a generic simulation model to determine the equipment mix (quay, yard and intra-terminal transfer) for a Container Terminal Logistics Operations System (CTLOS). The simulation model for the CTLOS, a typical type of discrete event dynamic system (DEDS), consists of three sub-models: ship queue, loading-unloading operations and yard-gate operations. The simulation model is empirically applied to phase 1 of the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai. This study considers different scenarios in terms of container throughput levels, equipment utilization rates, and operational bottle-necks, and presents a sensitivity analysis to evaluate and choose reasonable equipment ratio ranges under different operational conditions.
The port study has just been published in Journal of International Logistics and Trad and can freely downloaded in journal’s website.
