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In this research, we focus on a number of operational problems faced
by seaports and the industries that provide services to seaports. To date,
we have focused on operational decision support for drayage service
providers. Continuing research is investigating the use of dynamic
planning models for terminal resource scheduling.
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Planning Local Container Drayage Operations Given
a Port Access Appointment System
to appear, Transportation Research: Part E, 2007.
(w/ R. Namboothiri)
This paper studies management of a truck fleet providing container pickup
and delivery service (drayage)to a port with a appointment-based access
control system. Responding to growing access congestion and its resultant
impacts, many U.S. port terminals have implemented appointment systems, but
the impact of such systems on drayage fleet inefficiency is uncertain. In
this research, we develop a heuristic drayage operations planning system
that explicitly models a port access control system. Analysis on test
problems indicates that it is critical for terminal operators to provide
enough access capacity for drayage firms, since vehicle productivity can be
increased by 10 to 24 percent when total access capacity is increased by
30 percent. Furthermore, poor (but not unreasonable) selection of access
appointment time slots by drayage firms may result in substantial customer
service penalties, reducing the number of customers that can be served by
up to 4 percent for a fixed level of total access capacity.
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