Tactical and strategic planning for a container terminal: Modelling issues within a discrete event simulation approach

In this paper different microscopic discrete event simulation models for a container terminal are presented. The focus is on the best approach to adopt to simulate handling activity time duration and on which level of detail should be pursued with respect to different planning horizons that a decision maker have to face. The models share the same logical architecture but differ in the approaches pursued to estimate handling activity time duration. Terminal operations were broken down into elementary activities pursuing a level of disaggregation not usual in the literature; time duration of each elementary handling activity was modelled through a stochastic approach, distinguishing container type; validation was carried out with respect to different planning horizons (real-time/short-term, long-term) through the definition of local and global indicators and a before-and-after analysis. Modelling issues are discussed for tactical and strategic planning, and operational guidelines are given.