An exact algorithm for integrated planning of operations in dry bulk terminals

Abstract

We consider integrated planning problem of export dry bulk terminals. This problem consists of three important operations: (i) berth allocation, (ii) reclaimer scheduling, and (iii) stockyard allocation, and includes tidal time windows, multiple stocking pads and non-crossing of reclaimers. We exploit relationships among these operations to decompose this complex problem and propose a logic-based Benders decomposition algorithm. Master and subproblems are modeled with mixed-integer programming and constraint programming, respectively, such that complementary strengths of these programming paradigms are utilized. Computational experiments show that the proposed method can effectively solve the integrated problem for up to two weeks of planning horizon.