Hybrid Algorithms to Solve the Container Stacking Problem at Seaport

Abstract

A storage yard is a key resource in a container terminal. The effectiveness of its exploitation is an important factor to a port's productivity. Therefore, it is very important to adapt a good storage policy. In this paper, we propose a shared storage strategy, which is modeled mathematically with a mixed integer linear program. We consider a multi-modal container terminal, and take into account physical and operational constraints. This problem is Np-hard, and cannot be solved by optimization solvers when there are too many containers. So, we propose four algorithms to solve it: an ant colony algorithm, a bee algorithm, and two hybridizations. Numerical simulations prove the effectiveness and the efficiency of these algorithms.