A technique to determine the right crane capacity for a continuous quay

Abstract

The length of the quay and the number of quay cranes are crucial determinants for the handling capacity and the service quality of seaport container terminals. The appropriate dimensioning of these two resources is dealt with when the layout and the equipment are planned for a new terminal. For terminals in operation, however, the expansion of existing handling capacity is of particular interest. These terminals have liner services contracted, which must be taken into account when deciding on handling capacity adjustments. In this paper, we describe a technique to determine the quay crane capacity for a terminal with respect to a projected set of liner schedules of calling vessels. For this decision, we take into account the service quality and cost of the terminal that result from crane capacity adjustments. A detailed planning model and a related solution method are presented to anticipate the service operations under different crane deployments. Computational tests are conducted to determine the appropriate number of cranes to deploy at a terminal and to identify the most favorable crane assignment strategy. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011.