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Two-Way Bounded Dynamic Programming Approach for Operations Planning in Transshipment Yards

Author

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  • Alena Otto

    (Department of Management Information Science, University of Siegen, D-57068 Siegen, Germany)

  • Xiyu Li

    (Department of Management Information Science, University of Siegen, D-57068 Siegen, Germany)

  • Erwin Pesch

    (Department of Management Information Science, University of Siegen, D-57068 Siegen, Germany; and Center of Advanced Studies in Management, HHL–Leipzig, D-04109 Leipzig, Germany)

Abstract

We propose a two-way bounded dynamic programming (TBDP) approach to deal with situations, when it takes a long time to evaluate the value function in the state graph of dynamic programming. TBDP provides sharp bounds early in the solution process and identifies critical subproblems, i.e., states and transition arcs, for which the value function has to be estimated.Based on the TBDP framework, we develop a heuristic and an exact algorithm for the static crane scheduling problem (SCSP). The SCSP refers to simultaneous yard partitioning into single-crane areas and job sequencing at railway container transshipment yards, where both rail-rail and rail-road transshipments are present and rail-rail moves are short. The designed exact solution algorithm solves instances of practically relevant size within acceptable time limits. The proposed heuristic finds optimal solutions in 90% of the cases. We recommend using the heuristic algorithm for planning very large transshipment yards, with more than five tracks and a large number of container moves per crane.

Suggested Citation

  • Alena Otto & Xiyu Li & Erwin Pesch, 2017. "Two-Way Bounded Dynamic Programming Approach for Operations Planning in Transshipment Yards," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 325-342, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ortrsc:v:51:y:2017:i:1:p:325-342
    DOI: 10.1287/trsc.2016.0688
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Kuzmicz, Katarzyna Anna & Pesch, Erwin, 2019. "Approaches to empty container repositioning problems in the context of Eurasian intermodal transportation," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 194-213.
    3. Schulz, Arne & Fliedner, Malte & Fiedrich, Benedikt & Pfeiffer, Christian, 2021. "Levelling crane workload in multi-yard rail-road container terminals," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 941-954.
    4. Basallo-Triana, Mario José & Bravo-Bastidas, Juan José & Vidal-Holguín, Carlos Julio, 2022. "A rail-road transshipment yard picture," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Selvaprabu Nadarajah & Andre A. Cire, 2020. "Network-Based Approximate Linear Programming for Discrete Optimization," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 1767-1786, November.

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