Enhancing Operational Resilience in Coupled Short-Sea Ro-Pax Systems: A Cross-Port Coordinated Scheduling Model for Post-Disruption Recovery

Short-sea Roll-on/Roll-off passenger (Ro-Pax) corridors rely on tightly interconnected port pairs. These corridors face significant challenges in recovering efficiently after major disruptions, as recovery operations are often managed separately by each port, prioritizing the clearance of local backlogs. This can lead to system-wide inefficiencies due to the operational dependencies between ports and strict navigational rules. To address this challenge, this study develops a cross-port coordinated scheduling model for post-disruption recovery. Taking the Qiongzhou Strait (Xuwen Port–Xinhai Port corridor) as a representative case study, we formulate a mathematical model that jointly optimizes vessel dispatch timing at the departure port and berth assignments at the arrival port, strictly complying with one-way channel and basin safety constraints. An Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization (AACO) algorithm is designed to solve this complex problem. Validation using real post-typhoon data demonstrates that the coordinated strategy outperforms the conventional First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) method, reducing total vessel waiting time by 56.6% and the overall recovery time by 1.8%. This study provides a practical decision-support tool, highlighting how cross-port coordination can significantly improve the operational resilience of short-sea Ro-Pax transport systems during emergencies.