Design of Container Loading and Unloading Service Improvement with Simulation

Abstract

Container congestion at ports is a growing concern due to the increasing annual throughput, which negatively affects service performance. To address this issue, it is important to accelerate loading and unloading activities. This study aims to improve port service quality by simulating container handling operations using Discrete Event Simulation and Activity Cycle Diagrams (ACD). The study was conducted at the Belawan Container Terminal by observing container operations such as unloading, transportation with Head Truck (HT), stacking with Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG), and loading using Container Crane (CC). The actual operational model was replicated 10 times, and nine alternative equipment-mix scenarios were tested. Results show that Scenario 4, which involves reducing two HTs from the actual condition (resulting in 14 RTGs and 4 HTs), achieved the best performance. It improved service speed by 3.04 seconds per container and increased overall dock utility. These findings confirm that optimizing the equipment mix, especially balancing RTG and HT availability, significantly improves container handling efficiency and port performance.

Keyword: Container, Loading, Unloading, Simulation, Port Performance