Developing the seaport container terminal layout to enhance efficiency of the intermodal transportation system and port operations – case of the Port of Montreal

The intermodal container terminal is considered the hearth of intermodal transportation systems, where different transportation modes meet to exchange containers. Using intermodal transportation efficiently reduces the handling procedures and relieves congestion at every transfer site. The efficient container terminal operations play a significant role in enhancing container flows at the container terminal. One way to enhance port operations efficiency and facilitate smooth container flow is to improve the intermodal container terminal layout. An efficient container terminal layout can be achieved through a reduction in the distance between the quay and rail tracks. We propose a novel layout to reduce the cost and accelerate container flow, thus improving the effectiveness of the container terminal. A mathematical model is developed to evaluate both layouts' performance considering congestion between nodes throughout the network. The Montreal Port is used as a case study to validate the proposed layout and the experiments conducted. It has been found that the proposed layout resulted in significant reductions in cost and time. Comparative results between the proposed layout and that of the Montreal Port demonstrates a reduction of 10% and 8% respectively to the total cost and time of transport containers from the port to their final destination.