begins with the allocation of ships to berths several weeks before
a ship’s arrival, so that export containers arriving by train and
truck can be stored close to the future berthing place. The central
part of ship planning is the stowage planning that selects
specific stowage positions for all containers to be loaded. The
objective is to maximise the utilisation of the ship and to minimize
the number of container rehandles. Usually, an initial stowage
plan listing the required container attributes such as size,
weight, and the port of destination, for every on board stowage
position is created by the shipping line. This plan is transferred
to the terminal operator who then assigns individual containers
satisfying the required attributes such that the number of container
rehandles in the storage yard is minimized. The final step of
ship planning consists of scheduling the allocation of quay cranes
over time to the storage bays of the ships that run perpendicular
to a ship’s main axis.
