Decision-making problems for the operation of container terminals

This paper introduces several decision-making problems that need to be solved in order to facilitate the efficient operation of container terminals. These decision-making problems include the berth planning problem, the quay crane scheduling problem, the unload/load sequencing problem, the yard allocation problem, and the short-term scheduling of transporters and yard cranes. These problems can be classified into strategic decision problems, tactical decision problems, and real time operational decision problems. This paper proposes definitions of the problems that can be used to develop mathematical models for the problems.