Due to the ever-changing nature of container terminals, fluctuations in storage capacity, and updates to vessel loading lists, the container yard can often become a hindrance to efficient terminal operations. One specific bottleneck frequently encountered in the stacking yard is referred to as yard clash. This phenomenon results in longer loading times for containers and is caused by the stacking of containers with the same loading time for different vessels within the same limited yard block and the limited availability of yard equipment. To address this issue, a binary integer optimization model was developed and implemented at a major container terminal in Turkey to minimize yard clashes. The results indicated a significant decrease of 92% in yard clashes during the loading of outbound containers, which in turn led to an increase of 2% in the total number of containers handled per vessel per hour.
Keywords: binary integer programming, container terminal, optimization, storage space allocation problem, yard clash
