Optimal ship berthing plans

Abstract

A ship berthing plan assigns surface vessels a berth prior to their port entrance, or reassigns ships once in port to allow them to accomplish in a timely manner maintenance, training, and certification events which build readiness for future operational commitments. Each ship requires different services when in port, such as shore power, crane services, ordnance, and fuel. Unfortunately, not all services are offered at all piers. At present, ship berthing plans are manually prepared by a port operations scheduler and often result in unnecessary berth shifts, which puts ships out of action for several hours. An extensive user-friendly computerized optimization model is developed and tested to assist the schedulers in the creation of berthing plan which minimizes port loading conflicts, thus promoting fleet readiness through berthing stability. Norfolk Naval Station is used. Keywords: Port loading; Berthing plans; Port berthing; Military thesis; Ship berthing plans; Ship berthing; Berth scheduling; Ship scheduling; Supply replenishment. (kt)