A Layered Mixed Integer Linear Programming Approach for Truck Appointment System Design in Port Automation Application

This paper describes the development of a truck appointment system (TAS) algorithm in a port that mainly handles bulk cargo ships. The developed TAS algorithm is based on a two-stage mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) scheme. The first stage of the proposed scheme essentially formulates and solves a MILP problem to determine the number of trucks required by each consignee of the ship to handle/transport its part of the ship cargo. Based on the obtained number of trucks, the second stage of the scheme then formulates and solves the second MILP problem to schedule the arrival times and sequence of these trucks at the port subject to the operational parameters and characteristic of the port. Simulation results are reported to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed TAS algorithm to optimize port operations.