Crane scheduling and load planning in an intermodal terminal
In which order do the two gantry cranes discharge and reload the trains, and which wagon slot gets each export box?
Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom. The schedule below plays the plan; hover a bar for details. Illustrative day plan from an optimizing heuristic; the Timefold model is built in a project.
The planning question
The container terminal of a freight village: two gantry cranes share one runway and serve three trains and the trucks of the day. Trains arrive full; imports are discharged, exports fill the emptied slots, and the train has to leave full before its cut-off.
How we plan it
Crane sequencing and the load plan depend on each other; planning them together avoids long gantry moves and missed cut-offs.
What the plan shows
| KPI | Optimized plan | Comparison: fixed crane zones · first come, first served · front-to-back loading |
|---|---|---|
| truck turnaround | 11 min −22 | 33 min |
| longest truck wait | 33 min −55 | 88 min |
| gantry travel | 9 km −7.2 | 16.2 km |
| boxes late for train | 0 −4 | 4 |
Decisions
- crane and sequence per lift (truck ↔ wagon)
- wagon slot for every export box (load plan)
- zone split between the cranes over the day
Constraints
- cranes share one runway and keep 40 m apart
- imports leave the train after its release; exports fill the emptied slots
- exports on board before the train cut-off
- a double-cycle truck hands over its export before it takes its import
Objective
short truck turnaround, every train full and on time, little gantry travel
Questions
Is this a Timefold model?
This demo uses an optimizing heuristic in the same schedule format. A Timefold model for crane and load planning is what we would build in a project.
Can truck slots be included?
Yes. Truck appointment slots are a natural input and output of the same model.
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