Aimed to improve the efficiency of port operations, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (ZPMC) proposed a new U-shape trafficked automated terminal. The new U-shape trafficked automated terminal brings a new hybrid scheduling problem. A hybrid scheduling model for yard crane (YC), AGV and ET in the U-shape trafficked automated terminal yard is established to solve the problem. The AGV and ET yard lanes are assumed to be one-way lane. Take the YC, AGV and ET scheduling results (the container transportation sequences) as variables and the minimization of the maximum completion time as the objective function. A scheduling model architecture with hierarchical abstraction of scheduling objects is proposed to refine the problem. The total completion time is solved based on a static and dynamic mixed scheduling strategy. A chaotic particle swarm optimization algorithm with speed control (CCPSO) is proposed, which include a chaotic particle strategy, a particle iterative speed control strategy, and a particle mapping space for hybrid scheduling. The presented model and algorithm were applied to experiments with different numbers of containers and AGVs. The parameters of simulation part refer to Qinzhou Port. The simulation results show that CCPSO can obtain a near-optimal solution in a shorter time and find a better solution when the solution time is sufficient, comparing with the traditional particle swarm optimization algorithm, the adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm and the random position particle swarm optimization algorithm.

Container throughput in Shanghai port has been continually increasing, with severe congestion impacts. The effectiveness and comprehensiveness of governance policies are increasingly important. This study proposes a conceptual framework and simulation of congestion governance measures and their effectiveness on congestion control in a data-driven case study for Shanghai port. The contributions herein serve as a starting point in the identification of four alternative congestion governance options (Increasing the transport infrastructure, Multimodal transport, Smart strategy, and Interconnection), and explore dynamic interactions among them. The design of this study is to firstly develop a container port congestion evaluation model to measure the governance effect; secondly to undertake the triangle analysis in the dynamic system balance: demand of hinterland transport, container port congestion, and container port congestion governance; thirdly to describe four congestion governance options with a detailed description of feedback loops generated by the system dynamics model; finally to propose a policy framework aiming at the advantages and disadvantages of these four options. This study function as stepping stones towards the revealing of the biggest challenge in effective mitigation of port congestion systems by being considered not just a hardware issue (option 1) but more importantly organizational issues (options 2~4). It should be a process of coordination and optimization among 4 options.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in the U-shaped automated container terminal travel longer and more complex paths. The conflicts among AGVs are trickier. The scheduling strategy of the traditional automated container terminal is difficult to be applied to the U-shaped automated container terminal. In order to minimize the handling time of all tasks and avoid AGV conflicts simultaneously in the U-shaped automated container terminal, this paper establishes a hybrid programming model for conflict-free integrated scheduling of quay cranes, AGVs, and double-cantilever rail cranes in the unloading process. It consists of a discrete event dynamic model and a continuous time dynamic model. An improved genetic seagull optimization algorithm (GSOA) is designed. A series of numerical experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness and the efficiency of the model and the algorithm. The results show that the proposed method can simultaneously realize the AGVs collision avoidance and multi-equipment integrated scheduling optimization in the U-shaped automated container terminal.

Gate and yard congestion is a typical type of container port congestion, which prevents trucks from traveling freely and has become the bottleneck that constrains the port productivity. In addition, urban traffic increases the uncertainty of the truck arrival time and additional congestion costs. More and more container terminals are adopting a truck appointment system (TAS), which tries to manage the truck arrivals evenly all day long. Extending the existing research, this work considers morning and evening peak congestion and proposes a novel approach for multi-constraint TAS intended to serve both truck companies and container terminals. A Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) based multi-constraint TAS model is formulated, which explicitly considers the appointment change cost, queuing cost, and morning and evening peak congestion cost. The aim of the proposed multi-constraint TAS model is to minimize the overall operation cost. The Lingo commercial software is used to solve the exact solutions for small and medium scale problems, and a hybrid genetic algorithm and simulated annealing (HGA-SA) is proposed to obtain the solutions for large-scale problems. Experimental results indicate that the proposed TAS can not only better serve truck companies and container terminals but also more effectively reduce their overall operation cost compared with the traditional TASs.

During the operation of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) at automated terminals, the occurrence of conflicts and deadlocks will undoubtedly increase the ineffective waiting time of AGVs, so there is an urgent need for path planning and tracking control schemes for autonomous obstacle avoidance in AGVs. An innovative AGV autonomous obstacle avoidance path planning and trajectory tracking control scheme is proposed, effectively considering static and dynamic obstacles. This involves establishing three potential fields that reflect the influences of obstacles, lane lines, and velocities. These potential fields are incorporated into an optimized model predictive control (MPC) cost function, leveraging artificial potential fields to ensure effective obstacle avoidance. To enhance this system’s capability, a fuzzy logic system is designed to dynamically adjust the weight coefficients of the hybrid artificial potential field model predictive controller, strengthening the autonomous obstacle avoidance capabilities of the AGVs. The tracking control scheme includes a fuzzy linear quadratic regulator based on a fuzzy logic system, a dynamics model as a lateral controller, and a PI controller as a longitudinal tracker to track the pre-set trajectory and speed autonomously. Multi-scenario simulation tests demonstrate the effectiveness and rationality of our autonomous obstacle-avoidance control scheme.