Management of intermodal container terminals using feedback control

The problem of modelling and controlling transportation operations inside intermodal terminals is the objective of the present paper. More specifically, maritime container terminals are here considered, involving three kinds of transportation modes, namely, maritime, rail and road transport. A simple model for the considered kind of container terminals is proposed in the paper. In the model, the position of containers and their movements inside the terminal are modelled by means of buffers. The dynamic evolutions of such buffers are described by discrete-time equations, where the control variables take into account the utilization of terminal resources as load/unload capabilities and the available yard space. On the basis of the proposed model, an optimal control problem is stated that consists in minimizing the transfer delays of containers in the terminal. A receding-horizon strategy is proposed for the solution of such a control problem.