The berth allocation problem: models and solution methods

In this paper, we consider the problem of allocating space at berth for vessels with the objective of minimizing total weighted flow time. Two mathematical formulations are considered where one is used to develop a tree search procedure while the other is used to develop a lower bound that can speed up the tree search procedure. Furthermore, a composite heuristic combining the tree search procedure and pair-wise exchange heuristic is proposed for large size problems. Finally, computational experiments are reported to evaluate the efficiency of the methods. Correspondence to: Raymond K. CheungThe authors would like to thank the helpful comments of two anonymous referees and the editors. The research was supported in part by Grant HKUST6039/01E of the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong