Freight Transportation in Ports and Harbors

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Coastal Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 December 2023) | Viewed by 6243

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Technical Systems Operation, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
Interests: intermodal transport; container terminal; yard planning; container allocation; transshipment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciencesdisabled, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: intermodal transport; container yard simulation; data collection and analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Freight transportation and terminal operation are an important topic and play a huge role in the proper functioning of logistics chains. Operators as well as scientists go to great lengths to increase their efficiency and improve operating conditions.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the most interesting studies in the area of terminals, harbors and intermodal ports. We encourage you to publish high-quality articles directly related to the various aspects, as mentioned below. The use of novel test techniques is encouraged.

Topics include the management of cargo operations in ports and terminals at various levels, as well as the causes and effects of specific operations and solutions and many other related areas.

We invite you to present analytical techniques, simulation modeling, case studies, etc.

Dr. Mateusz Zaja̧c
Dr. Tomislav Rožić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • terminal operation
  • operation planning
  • port planning
  • yard management

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 6097 KiB  
Article
Emission Control Routes in Liner Shipping between Korea and Japan
by Je Ho Hwang and Dal Won Kang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(12), 2250; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11122250 - 28 Nov 2023
Viewed by 928
Abstract
Maritime shipping is considered a major air pollutant that directly affects global warming and climate change. This study aims to design an emission control route (ECR) that can contribute to long-term initiatives along with emission prevention policies. Applying a scenario analysis, this paper [...] Read more.
Maritime shipping is considered a major air pollutant that directly affects global warming and climate change. This study aims to design an emission control route (ECR) that can contribute to long-term initiatives along with emission prevention policies. Applying a scenario analysis, this paper has analyzed the impact of ECR implementation on air quality in the shipping route between Korea and Japan. In this study, the ECR is defined as eco-friendly shipping routes that recommend maintaining a specific level of speed while sailing. Based on the navigation trajectories of 55 O/Ds, which were extracted by the automatic identification system (AIS) data of 135 container ships for each port call during one year, the ECR domains were designated. To analyze the introduction impacts, this study employed a scenario analysis based on the current Vessel Speed Reduction Program (VSRP) recommendation of 12 knots or less. The results demonstrated that the introduction of ECR in the liner services between Korea and Japan would increase the average travel time by 10.47–16.98%. However, according to the results of the scenario analysis, the introduction of the ECR can reduce emissions by 25.65% to 39.73%. By suggesting the initial concept of ECR and analyzing the emission reduction effects of its implementation, this study provides useful insights for a balance between economic and environmental performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freight Transportation in Ports and Harbors)
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23 pages, 3651 KiB  
Article
Berth Allocation Considering Multiple Quays: A Practical Approach Using Cuckoo Search Optimization
by Sheraz Aslam, Michalis P. Michaelides and Herodotos Herodotou
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(7), 1280; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11071280 - 24 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1618
Abstract
Maritime container terminals (MCTs) play a fundamental role in international maritime trade, handling inbound, outbound, and transshipped containers. The increasing number of ships and containers creates several challenges to MCTs, such as congestion, long waiting times before ships dock, delayed departures, and high [...] Read more.
Maritime container terminals (MCTs) play a fundamental role in international maritime trade, handling inbound, outbound, and transshipped containers. The increasing number of ships and containers creates several challenges to MCTs, such as congestion, long waiting times before ships dock, delayed departures, and high service costs. The berth allocation problem (BAP) concerns allocating berthing positions to arriving ships to reduce total service cost, waiting times, and delays in vessels’ departures. In this work, we extend the study of continuous BAP, which considers a single quay (straight line) for berthing ships, to multiple quays, as found in many ports around the globe. Multi-Quay BAP (MQ-BAP) adds the additional dimension of assigning a preferred quay to each arriving ship, rather than just specifying the berthing position and time. In this study, we address MQ-BAP with the objective of minimizing the total service cost, which includes minimizing the waiting times and delays in the departure of ships. MQ-BAP is first formulated as a mixed-integer linear problem and then solved using the cuckoo search algorithm (CSA), a computational intelligence (CI)-based approach. In addition, the exact mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) method, two other state-of-the-art metaheuristic approaches, namely the genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), as well as a first come first serve (FCFS) approach, are also implemented for comparison purposes. Several experiments are conducted using both randomly generated and real data from the Port of Limassol, Cyprus, which has five quays serving commercial vessel traffic. The comparative analysis and experimental results show that the CSA-based method achieves the best overall results in affordable time as compared to the other CI-based methods, for all considered scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freight Transportation in Ports and Harbors)
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14 pages, 1889 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Berth Allocation in Maritime Transportation with Quay Crane Setup Times Using Reinforcement Learning
by Yonggai Dai, Zongchen Li and Boyu Wang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 1025; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11051025 - 11 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2017
Abstract
Maritime transportation plays a critical role in global trade as it accounts for over 80% of all merchandise movement. Given the growing volume of maritime freight, it is vital to have an efficient system for handling ships and cargos at ports. The current [...] Read more.
Maritime transportation plays a critical role in global trade as it accounts for over 80% of all merchandise movement. Given the growing volume of maritime freight, it is vital to have an efficient system for handling ships and cargos at ports. The current first-come-first-serve method is insufficient in maintaining operational efficiency, especially under complicated conditions such as parallel scheduling with different cargo setups. In addition, in the face of rising demand, data-driven strategies are necessary. To tackle this issue, this paper proposes a mixed-integer model for allocating quay cranes, terminals, and berths. It considers not only cargo types, but also the time required for a quay crane setup. The proposed model features a greedy-insert-based offline algorithm that optimizes berth allocation when vessel information is available. In situations where vessel information is uncertain, the model utilizes an online optimization strategy based on a reinforcement-learning algorithm that is capable of learning from feedback and of adapting quickly in real time. The results of the numerical experiments demonstrate that both the offline and online algorithms can significantly enhance cargo handling efficiency and overall harbor operation. Furthermore, they have the potential to be extended to other complex settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freight Transportation in Ports and Harbors)
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19 pages, 11444 KiB  
Article
Detecting Physical Impacts to the Corners of Shipping Containers during Handling Operations Performed by Quay Cranes
by Sergej Jakovlev, Tomas Eglynas, Mindaugas Jusis, Miroslav Voznak, Pavol Partila and Jaromir Tovarek
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(4), 794; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11040794 - 7 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1112
Abstract
This study aims to address the problem of proper shipping container damage detection during the hooking procedure performed by quay cranes and their hooking mechanisms. We adopted the Impacts Detection Methodology (IDM), developed previously, to detect repeated impacts on the same areas of [...] Read more.
This study aims to address the problem of proper shipping container damage detection during the hooking procedure performed by quay cranes and their hooking mechanisms. We adopted the Impacts Detection Methodology (IDM), developed previously, to detect repeated impacts on the same areas of the container. These concurrent impacts indicate false hooking procedures, which result in dangerous metal deformations in these areas over short periods of operational time. This application intends to verify if this methodology is adaptable in real-life applications to detect these specific events. Our main results indicate that more than half of handling procedures are carried out with a higher risk of structural damage to the containers due to these repeated impacts, which can reach up to five concurrent impacts in some case studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freight Transportation in Ports and Harbors)
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