Optimizing Automated Stacking Crane Dispatching Strategy Using an MOEA for an Automated Container Terminal

The problem of automated stacking cranes (ASC) dispatching in container terminals is addressed in this paper. We propose a heuristic-based ASC dispatching approach which adopts multi-criteria decision strategy. By aggregating different criteria the proposed strategy can consider multiple aspects of the dispatching situation and make robust decision in various situations. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) is adopted to tune the weights associated to each criteria to minimize both the quay crane delay and external truck delay. The proposed approach is validated by comparison with different dispatching heuristics and simulation results obtained confirms its effectiveness.