Solving the dynamic berth allocation problem by simulated annealing

Berth allocation, the first operation when vessels arrive at a port, is one of the major container port optimization problems. From both the port operator's and the ocean carriers’ perspective, minimization of the time a ship spends at berth is a key goal of port operations. This article focuses on two versions of the dynamic berth allocation problem (DBAP): discrete and continuous cases. The first case assigns ships to a given set of berth positions; the second one permits them to be moored anywhere along the berth. Simulated annealing (SA) approaches are proposed to solve the DBAP. The proposed SAs are tested with numerical instances for different sizes from the literature. Experimental results show that the proposed SA can obtain the optimal solutions in all instances of discrete cases and update 27 best known solutions in the continuous case.