A simulation approach to improve quay crane operations in container terminals

The development of international trade increases the amount of freight handled in ports every passing day. For this reason, port operators are also improving their operations in order to meet customer demands and increase their productivity. In particular, the container loads at the ports are countable and the international standards of their size allow to measure and improve performance in port operations. In this study, the efficiency of container operations of a port operation was measured by simulation method. Two simulation models were created for this. The first simulation model reflects the current system. In this model, handling performed on the quay includes loading from quay crane to truck or unloading from truck to the quay. In the second simulation model, the quay crane loads and unloads containers independently from the truck. Thus, it is aimed to observe the waiting times of the quay crane. When the simulation models are compared, it can be seen that the truck waitings that are in the current system can be removed. As a result, it was revealed that ship's waiting time on quay was halved. KEYWORDS: Container Terminals, Simulation