Estimation of Users' Waiting Cost at Container Terminals in Northern Vietnam

Container terminals in Northern Vietnam have recorded an impressive development in recent years. This development, however, also raises a fierce competition among local container terminals to attract customers. Beside the handling charges, the vessels' waiting cost is also an important factor that drive the opinion of users in choosing appropriate terminal. This research plans to estimate the waiting cost in different container terminals in Northern Vietnam by building regression equation that describe the relationship between the rate of throughput/capacity and waiting cost/TEU. Queuing theory with the application of Poisson distibution is used to estimate the waiting time of arrival vessels and uncertainty theory is applied to estimate the vessel's daily expenses. Previous studies suggested two different formation of the equation and according to the research results, cubic equation is more suitable in the given case. The research results are also useful for further research which require calculation of waiting cost per TEU in each container terminal in Northern Vietnam.