A Simulation Modeling Approach for Deciding the Scale of Buffer Areas and Gate Lanes in Container Ports

摘要

The truck congestion problem at port gates not only restricts ports' development, but also causes exhaust pollution. One of the main causes is uneven short-term traffic volume. As a cost-effective auxiliary method to cushion the intense traffic flow, setting a buffer area has been applied in many port, such as Shanghai Port and Tianjing Port. However, the lack of standards and methods on how to decide the scale of a buffer area, leads to either land wastage or inefficiency. In this context, this paper built a simulation model to simulate the whole complex container flow and truck flow in a port, aimed to find out the appropriate scale of a buffer area with the increase of throughput under different number of gate lanes. The results show that the traffic volume per hour shows an exponent relationship with the scale of buffer area, and the expansion of the buffer area can be an effective way only when the truck volume is less than the gates' limit capacity. For example, in case study, when traffic volume per hour is less than 225, 7 gates are enough and the buffer area should only be able to accommodate 50 trucks at most, once the traffic volume per hour climb over 240, 9 gates are needed at least. Our research method can be used for reference in engineering design on how big a buffer area should be, or when a new gate should be built with the increase of the traffic volume.