Sustainable Maritime Operations Stream

Talks:

The Green Yard Scheduler

The PortForward project takes a holistic approach to a smarter, greener, and more sustainable port ecosystem. One of the innovative tools being developed in the project is the Green Yard Scheduler (GYS). GYS is a decision-making support system that optimizes container terminal yard operations by considering multiple performance and sustainability-oriented objectives.

The design and development of the GYS is led by Brunel University London in collaboration with the Port of Vigo, Spain, and other research partners. Three key yard operations are included in the system: container pre-marshalling, container positioning, and yard crane scheduling.

Each operation is defined and formulated as a multi-objective optimisation problem with appropriate objectives for addressing operational efficiency and environmental impact. Preliminary computational experiments performed on a commercial solver demonstrate whether the objectives of each problem are conflicting with each other. In addition, Pareto frontiers are obtained for the applicable experiment instances.

Presenters:

This stream features three excellent talks on a variety of topic related to sustainable maritime operations. All of our speakers are authorities in their subject areas.

Afshin Mansouri, 
Brunel University London

Cihan Butun, 
Brunel University London

Multimodal freight transport planning and prediction

The COREALIS H2020 project proposes a strategic, innovative framework supported by disruptive technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, next-generation traffic management and emerging 5G networks. The goal is to help cargo ports to handle upcoming and future capacity, traffic efficiency and environmental challenges.

The Cargo Flow Optimiser (CFO) is one of the COREALIS innovations. The goal of the CFO is to provide a complete overview of the most efficient multimodal connections from the Port of Antwerp to its hinterland by rail, barge or truck. It calculates the optimal door-to-door container routes comparing the duration, price and CO2 emissions.

Moreover, the CFO contributes to the planning and control in port terminals and increases reliability and resiliency of port operations in an ecosystem with high uncertainties and a turbulent and ever-shifting demand by forecasting the flow of containers departing from the Port of Antwerp.

Supply Chain Modelling as a Transversal Tool: the Port Activity Scenario Model

The PIXEL Consortium has been working on the definition and implementation of a tool to represent a port's supply chain. This work, aimed at improving the energy efficiency in one of the project pilots, has driven the Consortium to realise the importance of simulation scenarios for port planning.

In this talk, we will discuss how the developments in PIXEL can be leveraged by the port community for better planning and productivity, and provide examples of usage and potential future perspectives.