The use of computer simulation for marine terminal planning

A flexible over-model that represents the overall operations of a marine terminal and that also includes the effect of traffic interactions has been developed. This model has been tested and implemented for the proposed remodeling of several marine terminals for a major shipping company. A general finding from the simulation study indicates that rearranging the yard to achieve increased year productivity and efficient traffic routing does not necessarily reduce ship turn time. This is evident when the enhancement of dockside crane configurations to reduce crane cycle times fails to reduce ship turn time. These results suggest that the productivity of the dock and the year are linked, and the effect of increasing productivity of any isolated activity must also be examined on overall terminal operations