Optimal berth allocation for tanker vessels: evaluating cost-efficient queue priorities via simulation / Nur Syaza Izurin Zolkefley

All parties involved in maritime supply chain are striving for supply chain efficiency. Vessel arrive at the port over time and aims for departure within a specific time frame. Problems with berth allocation were investigated, and a methodology was devised to reduce departure delays and total service time, endeavour to reduce demurrage as penalty cost. This study is being carried out in response to recent massive congestions from an Oil and Gas refinery terminal in one of Malaysian safe ports which have been caused by a boom in oil trading and fuel bunkering. This issue isn’t just been highlighted due to the penalized cost which incurred but also to show the hindsight of congestion towards vessels’ safety. This study presented a multi-objective continuous berth allocation improvement model with priority to address this issue. On the basis of an examination of berth waiting time, the suggested model investigated the relationship between arrival and queue priority of calling vessels, and generated weight vectors for demurrage penalty cost. Simulations on models were used to compare and verify different parameter techniques on their upshot to the overall terminal performance. Further analyses were done to determine the influence of the demurrage cost ratio between priority based on vessel arrival, cargo size, and demurrage rate on waiting time in line. Aside from this research, various supply chain inefficiencies and reasons of demurrage costs have been examined for future improvement, along with potential solutions. However, because these solutions have been noted to be of long term planning, the vessel queue priority models can be used as an immediate solution to reduce waiting times and save money, hence improving supply chain efficiency and profitability.