An Adaptive Rule-Based DSS For The Container Space Allocation Problem Under Uncertainty

Container ports are operating under increasingly stringent resource conditions given the continuously growing number of containers transported globally. Meanwhile, the ability to ensure sufficient predictability with respect to relevant social, economic and environmental factors to ensure efficient planning keeps declining. As a consequence, the need of adaptive decision support systems in the context of operational decision making within a container port has become of growing importance.The work focus on the container space allocation problem which aims to identify the best allocation strategy to place containers within a container yard while ensuring that operational efficiency is maximised. A decision support system design is proposed to dynamically select suitable decision criteria based on a real-time impact assessment of uncertainty within the container port. The design exploits the relationship between the degree of agility of a decision rule and the level of uncertainty in the port. The presentation will outline computational results based on a real-world case study.