Context
During the design phase of a multi-purpose harbour, a producer must ensure that the proposed system will allow required product throughputs to be met.
The problem is complex because of resource constraints, and additional considerations such as maintenance, weather delays, trucking of TEUs, and the impact of other shipments.
Key decision to be made: Do the proposed operating parameters meet the required throughput, and what additional resources are required to optimise bottle necks?
Modelling Approach
Evans & Peck utilised a discrete event simulation modelling approach to map the transportation, warehousing, and loading to ships of product.
Key benefits of the modelling tool developed include:
- the producer was able to ensure that the proposed harbour was capable of achieving the required annual throughput
- a variety of scenario experiments enabled the identification of bottle necks and measures that may be implemented to increase resource utilisation and efficiencies of the port operations
- the impact of different ship size mixes and number of berths could be examined
Model developed and published by Evans & Peck Australia.