The Collaborative Scheduling Optimization of External Truck at Container Terminals Based on Mixed Integer Programming under Appointments System

Appointments at container terminals are an effective way to relieve congestion. In order to adjust the truck’s arrival time at the gate, concerning the cooperation and the time window adjustment mode among external trucking companies and terminal operators in the truck appointment system (TAS), the centralized and decentralized dynamic collaborative TAS model are established respectively by mixed integer programming (MIP). Numerical experiments are performed to validate the approach in this study. The results show that the dynamic collaborative TAS can significantly reduce the waiting and congestion costs of the external trucking companies, and better stagger the peak time windows, so as to maximize the synergy between terminal operators and trucking companies. Finally, optimization measures for the scheduled arrival of external trucks outside the container terminal are put forward.