Yard Strategies
- 2. Operations Managers and Planners Berth Planning Vessel Planning Yard Planning Page
- 3. Berth Planning – Information Gathering Pro-forma schedule / actual arrival Moves and crane split information Processing of obtained/collected information Desired sailing time Changes to cargo setup Page
- 4. Berth Planning – Evaluation of terminal needs Any delays affecting the vessel Are any other vessel delays that “pushes” vessel in question? Are any vessels that carries priority connections being operated with delay/arriving delayed? Yard Space and equipment availability Is there sufficient space available for the discharge if we follow our strategy, or do we have to compromise the strategy? Is the needed amount of equipment available to ensure the desired degree of segregation of the discharge? Is the amount of equipment needed to cover the loading available? Page
- 5. Berth Planning – Decisions to be taken Where to berth the vessel Where is the cargo? Is all cargo available, i.e. in the terminal, pending gate-in, on connection vessel? Any rolling, major routing or schedule change that makes house keeping needed? Can the vessel be berthed where cargo is concentrated? Is the discharge and areas for discharge having priority over loading, and should berth be changed due to this? Are the required cranes available at this berth? Lifting height – Vessel stowage, vessel size; Crane height – Needed clearance to vessel cranes, accommodation; Lifting capacity – Break bulk and OOG handling; Twin capability – Will any twin lifts be “lost”? Amount of cranes – Does the required amount of cranes cover this part of the berth? Page
- 6. Berth Planning – Decisions to be taken When to berth the vessel Is the berth available on arrival? What ETA at the pilot station should the vessel be adjusted for? Respecting the bunker saving initiative; Does vessel have a possibility to work advanced or to receive gangs mid shift due to possible early completion on other vessels and hence needs to be advanced? Berth vessel stbd. or port side alongside – Time needed to do one or the other? What side does the stowage favor? When do we have time to turn vessel? Before or after completion? Any requirements from the line (crew change, repairs, on/off hire) Page
- 7. Berth Planning – Decisions to be taken How to work the vessel How many cranes are needed (respecting the established needs, own as well as lines)? Can the vessel work with the needed amount of cranes? Any preference for port/stbd. side alongside due to stowage? Page
- 8. Vessel Planning Strategies First discharge vessel aft to forward, then load vice versa; Discharge and Load by bay simultaneously; Double cycle moves; Twin-20’ lifting; The purpose is to provide a plan that delivers the maximum moves per hour on a given vessel, with the given resources of machines, yard and personnel; The crane load distribution should be planned before starting operations; Page
- 9. Vessel Planning - Restrictions Some restraints will include but are not limited to Uneven distributed cargo plan; Ships’ stability and draft restrictions; Late arriving cargo; Inability to use the ballast tanks; Vessel damages that influences work sequence; Repairs that require work around; Vessel gear; Page
- 10. Yard Planning - Strategies Yard is an internal rather than external activity Payment Schemes influences whether to discharge to “Proper Place” or to “Pre-stack” Yard is heavily influenced by gate activities for import export terminals For import/export terminals, previous cargo co-ordination is of utmost importance For Transhipment and Import/Export terminals, yard planning is continuous in order to reduce housekeeping moves Page
- 11. Yard Planning – Stacking Strategies Split per service and allocated fixed areas Split per service areas moving Split per service per bay Split per service per slot (Random) Page
- 12. Stacking Strategies - Fixed areas Page 5 A3 A3 A2 A2 A2 A2 A2 A3 A3 A3 A2 Gate in Gate out
- 13. Stacking Strategies - Service areas moving I (Monday) Page 5 A3 A3 A2 A2 A2 A2 A5 A3 A3 A3 A2 Gate in Gate out A5 A5
- 14. Stacking Strategies - Service areas moving II (Thursday) Page 5 A5 A3 A2 A2 A2 A2 A5 A5 A5 Gate in Gate out A5 A5
- 15. Stacking Strategies - Service per Bay Page 5 A5 A3 A2 A6 A5 Gate in Gate out A2 A3 Legend A1 WA A8 A7
- 16. Stacking Strategies - Random Stacking Page 5 A5 Gate in Gate out A2 A3 A5 A3 A2 A6 Legend A1 WA A8 A7
Editor's Notes
- #3: Three different planning modes. Berth planning Vessel planning Yard planning Above three planning modes are well connected. The performance and results of yard planning strategies is based on berth planning and vice versa. The performance and results of the vessel planner is depending on the options given from berth and yard planning. This means that a very CLOSE co-operation is needed. The result of this co-operation will have a direct impact on the terminal’s productivity and costs.
- #4: The berth coordinator: Co-ordinates with the different line operations departments the ETA/ETD and number of moves of the different vessels. Based on this info determines the resources required (cranes, transport equipment, gangs,etc) and the actual berth plan. The information the berth co-ordination group is gathering, is collected from the above stated sources. The necessity of an exact ETD comes from the service/vessel schedule. The service is planned in a way that allows the vessel to get into the different berthing windows at economical speed (if possible). At some ports the ETD of certain vessels can not be extended because of: Dedicated berths in other ports. Meeting convoys to pass Suez or Panama Canals. Bunkering point (meeting for bunkering). Draft restrictions Tidal restrictions i.e. PTP Tidal currents i.e. Bombay
- #5: If all vessels are on schedule, the berthing should easily be arranged in accordance with the proforma berthing. This is however a rare case. There are nearly always changes, and these changes very often leads to more changes. Changes could be: Vessel delayed in previous port Vessel delayed in route due to bad weather Vessel delayed in route due to technical problems Vessel berth not available due to delays on previous vessel Breakdowns More moves than usual Crane split not sufficient Adverse weather Strikes The cargo for the vessel has not yet been discharged from the pre-carrier as it is arriving late. Vessel waiting for some VIP cargo arriving by road.
- #6: Housekeeping is containers being moved near “where they are needed” thereby the terminal prepares for a smooth operation.. Housekeeping other things being equal increase the cost per move, but allows the terminal to add flexibility to its operation. The housekeeping is an activity the terminal has in order to: Concentrate the loading cargo. Clean the pre-stacking. Pre-stacking is done in order to increase crane productivity and/or to save yard equipment. Productivity wise it is important to berth where the cargo is concentrated in order to decrease the travel distance. Discharge operation is quicker than loading, so smaller driving distance are required or more equipment needs to be allocated. It is important to consider the vessel and cranes characteristics when allocating berths to vessels. Some vessel are equipped with cranes (geared vessels) forcing the use of high quay cranes. If the vessel is stowage in 17th rows, Post-Panamax cranes are required. In case the vessel has significant amount of 20’containers, the terminal will try to maximise number of twin-lifts by berthing the vessels under the cranes with twin twenty capability. Therefore cranes must be able to lift 61 Tonnes under spreader. Finally, the crane needs to be able to lift the weight of a Break Bulk that needs to be discharged or load in the vessel. (Tonnes above spreader)
- #7: The terminal will have to consider if they can start operation earlier or later to better utilise labour finishing early on a prior vessel? (Cost of labour and port uses needs to be considered) The terminal also helps the line with ‘bunker saving initiative’; by giving the lines information about expected available berth the master can adjust to economical speed when possible and save bunker. Sometimes the vessel-master ask for turning the vessel due to repair, large volume of storage delivery (kitchen), etc. The terminal then must consider if this will interrupt the operation (time wise, operational wise). Additionally, the line often have requests for extended stay in at berth due crew change, repairs, on/off hire, etc. This of course could have an impact on berthing time. The berth co-ordinator will have to consider any impact on his berthing programme and accept or refuse to extend or change berthing time.
- #8: The number of cranes allocated to each vessel is predefined in the pro-forma schedule. In the pro-forma schedule, the lines and the terminal agree on the average number of moves, official ETA, official ETD and allocation of number of cranes. How do we deliver contractual berth productivity: Does stowage allow us to employ required number of cranes.. Number of cranes required to keep berth productivity or/and ETD. Crane gross production The importance of berth productivity to the line is time saving, which gives schedule flexibility (bunker savings, additional port calls etc). The importance of berth productivity to the terminal are requirements to allocation of gangs (and quay cranes). The terminal aim at servicing the vessels with as few quay cranes as possible in order to maximise/utilises their resources. However, it could be important to the terminal to get the vessel out fast in order to free up the berth space. The line requires a minimum amount of quay cranes working on the vessel. This however is not always possible because of stowage to less cranes, or the terminal does not have required cranes, the vessel could geared and therefore requires large cranes to handle containers stowage near the vessels gear. Starboard vs. portside, see previous slide.
- #9: Vessel planning strategies with a direct impact on the way the yard and resource allocation should be
- #10: Uneven distributed cargo could mean a crane split which will prevent the terminals for utilising the expected number of cranes, which will result in a lower berth productivity. Ships stability conditions could mean that cargo would be uneven distributed. Late arrival cargo could mean that the terminal is not able to optimise the work sequence and crane intensity will be lower. Inability to use ballast could force the chief officer to demand a certain work sequence from the terminal.
- #11: Given the earlier mentioned external restrictions and service requirements to the terminal - like berth productivity, etc – At import/export terminals it is very beneficial to have a very close co-operation with the line. For export containers changes to numbers of container which are load ready can easily change and late arrivals would also impact the terminals work. For discharge it is beneficial to know expected dwell time and if possible expected departure mode i.e. barge, rail or truck. For both terminal types it is important for the utilisation of the capacity and the terminal performance to have a dynamic yard planning.
- #12: Minimum allocation sizes heavily influence the CY space needed. The smaller the minimum allocation size, the less space is reserved up-front
- #13: Fixed areas: Requires a large amount of yard space. The yard is segregated by service, knowing that the same vessel will come week after week with similar amount of moves. Therefore a specific piece of yard is allocated on fixed basis. The space is only used for this service, and the space is slowly filled during the week. To take it to the extreme, one could start looking for patterns in the stowage and in cooperation with the co-ordination centres it would be possible to stage the yard for specific cranes. (The forward crane always loads all PTP 20’, half of the SIN 40’ etc., etc) Pros & Cons: Pros: Housekeeping is minimised and yard planning is simplified. It is possible to plan around possible yard clashes. It is possible to pre-stage for double cycling, twins etc. Cons: It results in a lower stacking density and therefore requires a larger stacking area. Vessel is heavily inmpacted if preferred berth not is avaiable.
- #14: Service areas moving: The terminal does not have enough yard space to allow fixed areas . As soon as yard space is available it is filled with containers for another service. As a consequence, the vessel will not necessarily berth the same spot next time since the cargo have been consolidated other place on the yard. Since the containers are placed where there are space, this type of strategy requires more housekeeping moves than the fixed area strategy, as well as it of course like in the fixed area strategy requires berthing discipline. Pros & Cons: Compared with the “Fixed Areas” amount of housekeeping is higher but still low. The yard planning is more complex than for the “Fixed Areas” but still relatively simple. The cons like the “Fixed Areas” are lower stacking density and requires a larger stacking area.
- #16: Service per bay: This strategy is the first step towards random stacking . The cargo is spread throughout different piles (different collars) in the yard segregating the cargo by service and POD. In an RTG operation, traffic congestion is avoided, by securing that the distance between piles or yard bays to the same service has to be 2 times 40’ containers. To minimise the travel distance, the cargo is normally spread in maximum 3 lanes. Pros & Cons: The pros are higher stacking density and therefore requires less stacking area. The cons are a more complex yard planning and more housekeeping.
- #17: Random: Where the fixed area strategy reserves a fixed area al year, and the service areas moving reserves an fixed area partly, the random stacking strategy reserves random stacking only the ground slot and the tiers above for a specific service. In a RTG-operation it requires a lager density of RTGs or much travelling between blocks. The strategy is only favourable for terminals with a high density already requiring a large amount of yard equipment (approx. one RTG per yard block) working more or less constantly over the terminals working hours. Pros & Cons: The pros is possibility for high stacking density, less housekeeping. Cons are complex operation especially if external trucks are mixed with the internal trucks and requires service from the same yard cranes.