A Weighted Goal Programming model for Storage Space Allocation problem in a container terminal

Abstract

Storage Space Allocation Problem (SSAP) is defined as the temporary assignment of unloading/loading containers to the storage blocks during a planning period with the aim of balancing the workload between the blocks. Despite the widespread literature on this topic, several previous studies neglected the practical and implementation aspect of their solutions. The aim of this paper is to formulate and solve the real-life SSAP at the Sfax seaport situated in Tunisia. A Weighted Goal Programming (WGP) based-methodology is proposed as a multi-objective resolution approach. In this proposed approach, three objectives have been accorded including: (i) the balance between the containers unloaded in the blocks, (ii) the balance between the containers unloaded and loaded simultaneously, and (iii) the minimization of the storage cost of the loading/unloading containers for each period. Experimental results show that the proposed approach provides good results and can be effective and practical for the studied Sfax seaport case study.

Keywords

• storage space allocation problem
• weighed goal programming
• container terminal
• sfax seaport