A modified sailfish optimizer to solve dynamic berth allocation problem in conventional container terminal

Abstract

During the past two decades, there has been an increase on maritime freight traffic particularly in container flow. Thus, the Berth Allocation Problem (BAP) can be considered among the primary optimization problems encountered in port terminals. In this paper, we address the Dynamic Berth Allocation Problem (DBAP) in a conventional layout terminal which differs from the popular discrete layout terminal in that each berth can serve multiple vessels simultaneously if their total length is equal or less than the berth length. Then, a Modified Sailfish Optimizer (MSFO) meta-heuristic based on hunting sailfish behavior is developed as an alternative for solving this problem. Finally, computational experiments and comparisons are presented to show the efficiency of our method against other methods presented in the literature in one hand. We also discuss the productivity of a container terminal based on different scenarios which can happen.

Keywords

• Modified sailfish optimizer algorithm
• Meta-heuristic
• Container Terminal
• Berth Allocation Problem
• Optimization