A QUAY CRANE OPERATION METHOD

Abstract

A method for allocating and/or operating quay cranes at a container carrier terminal. The method includes scheduling a container carrier associated with static carrier information to perform a container carrier berth at the container carrier terminal and further supplying a container carrier entry associated with the container carrier berth to a container carrier terminal system associated with the container carrier terminal. The method further includes generating an estimated container-related berth workload associated with the container carrier berth based on the static carrier information, and allocating the quay cranes to crane time windows which lie within an expected duration of the container carrier berth, wherein the allocating quay cranes is performed in the container carrier terminal system prior to the container carrier berth and is based on the estimated container-related berth workload. The quay cranes are then operated to perform transfer of containers associated with the container carrier during the crane time window.

Claims

1-81. (canceled)

82. A method for operating and/or allocating at least one quay crane at a container carrier terminal, said method comprising: scheduling a container carrier to perform a container carrier berth at said container carrier terminal, wherein said container carrier is associated with static carrier information; supplying a container carrier entry associated with said container carrier berth to a computer-implemented container carrier terminal system associated with said container carrier terminal; generating an estimated container-related berth workload associated with said container carrier berth based on said static carrier information; and allocating said at least one quay crane to a crane time window which lies at least partially within an expected duration of said container carrier berth, wherein said allocating said at least one quay crane is performed in said container carrier terminal system prior to said container carrier berth and is based on said estimated container-related berth workload.

83. The method according to claim 82, wherein the method further comprises operating said at least one quay crane to perform transfer of containers associated with said container carrier during said crane time window.

84. The method according to claim 82, wherein said step of generating an estimated container-related berth workload is performed automatically.

85. The method according to claim 82, wherein said step of allocating said at least one quay crane based on said estimated container-related workload is performed automatically.

86. The method according to claim 82, wherein said step of allocating said at least one quay crane further comprises allocating a quay crane of said at least one quay crane to a quay crane position.

87. The method according to claim 83, wherein said step of operating said at least one quay crane comprises moving a quay crane of said at least one quay crane from a respective first quay crane position to a respective second quay crane position.

88. The method according to claim 82, wherein said allocating said at least one quay crane is based on crane allocation constraints.

89. The method according to claim 82, wherein said allocating said at least one quay crane comprises allocating a plurality of quay cranes to a plurality of crane time windows such that each quay crane of said plurality of quay cranes is allocated to a respective crane time window of said plurality of crane time windows; and wherein said operating said at least one quay crane comprises operating each quay crane of said plurality of quay cranes to perform transfer of containers associated with said container carrier during said respective crane time window of said plurality of crane time windows.

90. The method according to claim 82, wherein said estimated container-related berth workload is indicative of one or more of the following: a cargo capacity to be unloaded from said container carrier to said container carrier terminal during said container carrier berth, a cargo capacity to be loaded from said container carrier terminal to said container carrier during said container carrier berth, and a cargo capacity to be redistributed on said container carrier during said container carrier during said container carrier berth.

91. The method according to claim 82, wherein said estimated container-related berth workload is indicative of a number of quay crane workhours required during said container carrier berth.

92. The method according to claim 82, wherein said container carrier entry is associated with a tentative arrival time of said container carrier and a tentative departure time of said container carrier.

93. The method according to claim 82, wherein said method comprises a step of receiving a declared container-related berth workload from said container carrier after allocating said at least one quay crane, and wherein said method comprises a step of modifying said crane time window based on said declared container-related berth workload.

94. The method according to claim 82, wherein said generating said estimated container-related berth workload is based on a workload predictor associated with a workload prediction algorithm, and wherein said workload predictor is executed by data processing equipment.

95. The method according to claim 82, wherein said static carrier information represent one or more of the following: a container carrier identifier, a container carrier type, a container carrier manager, a container carrier size, and a container carrier volume.

96. The method according to claim 82, wherein said generating said estimated container-related berth workload is based on a historical berth database, and wherein said historical berth database comprises one or more past container carrier berth representations or aggregation thereof.

97. The method according claim 94, wherein said workload prediction algorithm is based on machine learning, and wherein a historical berth database is a training dataset used for said machine learning.

98. The method according to claim 82, wherein said method further comprises: providing, in said container carrier terminal system, a model of said container carrier terminal executed on data processing equipment, said model comprising representations of terminal resources and terminal constraints relating to said terminal resources, wherein said terminal resources comprise said at least one quay crane and said representations of terminal resources including representations of said at last one quay crane; and inputting, in said container carrier terminal system, a plurality of said container carrier entries, each container carrier entry relating to a container carrier and associated with a preliminary terminal resource demand including said estimated container-related berth workload.

99. The method according to claim 82, wherein said container carrier terminal system comprises a plurality of container carrier entries relating to different container carrier berths of different container carriers and each being associated with respective preliminary terminal resource demands and static carrier information, said method further comprising the steps of: generating said estimated container-related berth workloads for at least two of said container carrier entries based on said static carrier information; and allocating a respective subset of said terminal resources to each of said container carrier entries including said allocation of said at least one quay crane to said crane time window to obtain a preliminary terminal resource plan of allocated terminal resources, wherein said step of allocating terminal resources comprises automatically validating said allocated terminal resources of the container carrier entries, the allocated terminal resources including a subset of said at least one quay crane, and wherein the validating includes automatically establishing whether the allocated terminal resources of the container carrier entries comply with said terminal constraints and said preliminary terminal resource demand associated with said plurality of container carrier entries.

100. A container carrier terminal system comprising data processing equipment configured to store a container carrier entry associated with a scheduled container carrier berth of a container carrier at a container carrier terminal comprising at least one quay crane; the container carrier being associated with static carrier information; characterized in that the container carrier terminal system comprises a workload predictor configured to generate an estimated container-related berth workload associated with said container carrier berth based on said static carrier information; and the container carrier terminal system being configured to use data processing equipment to perform and store an allocation of said at least one crane to a crane time window which lies at least partially within an expected duration of said container carrier berth, wherein said allocation is performed in said container carrier terminal system prior to said container carrier berth and is based on said estimated container-related berth workload.

101. The container carrier terminal system of claim 100, wherein said container carrier terminal system comprises a model of said container carrier terminal executed on data processing equipment, said model comprising representations of terminal resources and terminal constraints relating to said terminal resources, said representations of terminal resources including representations of said at least one quay crane; and wherein said container carrier entry is associated with a preliminary terminal resource demand including said estimated container-related berth workload.

Description

THE DRAWINGS

[0267] Various embodiments of the invention will in the following be described with reference to the drawings where

[0268] FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified view of an embodiment of the invention,

[0269] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a method according to an embodiment of the invention,

[0270] FIG. 3 illustrates allocation of a quay crane to a crane time window relative to an expected duration of a container carrier berth and rescheduling of a container carrier berth according to an embodiment of the invention,

[0271] FIG. 4 illustrates allocation of a plurality of quay cranes to a plurality of crane time windows relative to expected durations of these container carrier berths according to an embodiment of the invention,

[0272] FIG. 5 illustrates modifying the crane time window based on a declared container-related berth workload according to an embodiment of an invention,

[0273] FIG. 6 illustrate a workload predictor according to an embodiment of the invention,

[0274] FIG. 7 illustrates data processing equipment comprising different records of relevance to embodiments of the invention, and

[0275] FIG. 8 illustrates a container carrier terminal for handling container carriers of different sizes according to embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0276] FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified view of an embodiment of the invention. The invention revolves around a container carrier berth 4, an event which involves a container carrier 3 visiting a container carrier terminal 2 which has at least one quay crane 1 to perform transfer of containers back and forth between the container carrier 3 and the container carrier terminal 2. In FIG. 1, a schematic view of the invention is shown to the right, whereas a more detailed view of the container carrier berth 4 is shown to the left.

[0277] Particularly, the invention relates to generating an estimated container-related berth workload prior to the container carrier berth 4, allocating at least one quay crane 1 to a crane time window 9 which lies at least partially within a duration of said container carrier berth 4, and preferably operating the allocated cranes accordingly. Even though FIG. 1 shows a container carrier berth taking place, note that the invention is related to method steps happening before that container carrier berth takes place.

[0278] The left side of FIG. 1 illustrates how a quay crane 1 may perform transfer of containers 10 between a container carrier 3 and a container terminal 2 or a quay 11 or a yard of a container terminal. This event wherein transfer of containers between container carrier 3 and container carrier terminal 2 takes place may be referred to as a container carrier berth.

[0279] The right side of FIG. 1 shows that the container carrier is associated with static carrier information 5, e.g. a container carrier route, or a container carrier identifier such as a name. A computer-implemented container carrier terminal system 7 associated with the container terminal 2 is supplied with a container carrier entry 6 which is a digital representation of the container carrier berth. The container carrier entry may thus be linked to the static carrier information (not directly shown in FIG. 1), be associated with tentative arrival and departure times of the container carrier at the container carrier terminal and be linked to a container-related berth workload, e.g. the estimated container-related berth workload.

[0280] According to the embodiment, an estimated container-related berth workload 8 is generated based on the static carrier information 5. Then, the quay crane 1 is allocated to a time window which lies at least partially within a duration of the container carrier berth. For example, if the container carrier entry is associated with a tentative arrival time of which lies two weeks ahead at 13:00, and a tentative departure time which lies two weeks ahead at 21:00, the quay crane is allocated to a crane time window which lies at least partially within the duration from two weeks ahead at 13:00 to two weeks ahead at 21:00, for example a crane time window which lies from two weeks ahead at 14:00 to two weeks ahead at 20:00. Then, following this example, when the container carrier 3 arrives two weeks after allocating the quay crane 1 to the crane time window 9, the quay crane is operated to perform transfer of containers between the container carrier 3 and the container carrier terminal 2 during this crane time window 9.

[0281] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a method according to an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the method comprises five steps S1-S5.

[0282] In a first step S1, a container carrier is scheduled to perform a container carrier berth at a container carrier terminal. The container carrier is associated with static carrier information.

[0283] This scheduling may for example be an establishment of a contractual agreement between a manager of the container carrier and a manager of the container carrier terminal. The manager of the container carrier may for example be a shipping company. An example of a contractual agreement is a pro-forma plan. In a pro-forma plan, a shipping company agrees to arrive at one or more container carrier terminals on a regular basis, e.g. on a weekly basis. Multiple container carriers of that shipping company are then assigned to a container carrier route, to fulfil this proforma plan, e.g. to arrive at a container terminal on a weekly basis. The pro-forma plan may typically also include a contractual cargo capacity, e.g. the number of containers which are required to be transferred during a container carrier berth of the pro-forma plan. However, this number may be substantially inaccurate.

[0284] Establishing a pro-forma plan is an example of a step scheduling a container carrier to perform a container carrier berth according to the invention. However, note that the invention is not limited to scheduling through a contractual agreement or a pro-forma plan. Scheduling a container carrier to perform a container carrier berth may for example be scheduling a single container carrier berth, e.g. not related to a specific container carrier route.

[0285] The next step S2 is to supply a container carrier entry, e.g. a digital representation of the scheduled container carrier berth, to a container carrier terminal system of the container carrier terminal.

[0286] The container carrier entry may typically be associated with information relating to the container carrier and/or the container carrier route related to the container carrier berth. The container carrier entry may typically also comprise a tentative arrival time and a tentative departure time. Further, the container carrier entry may comprise a contractual container-related berth workload, e.g. an initially agreed-upon number of containers to be loaded and/or unloaded during the scheduled container carrier berth.

[0287] The next step S3 is to generate an estimated container-related berth workload associated with the container carrier berth and based on the static carrier information.

[0288] In some embodiments, the estimated container-related berth workload is generated by an automatically applied number of mathematical operations to a contractual estimated container-related berth workload, e.g. multiplying by a factor of 0.75.

[0289] In some embodiments, the estimated container-related berth workload is generated based on a historical berth database. For example, past container carrier berths of the same container carrier route are found in the historical berth database, and the estimated container-related berth workload is calculated as an average or as a weighted average of the actual container-related berth workload of these past container carrier berths.

[0290] In some embodiments, the estimated container-related berth workload is generated based on the number of containers temporarily stored in the container carrier terminal.

[0291] In some embodiments, the estimated container-related berth workload is generated by a workload predictor, e.g. a workload predictor associated with a workload prediction algorithm. For example, a workload prediction algorithm based on a historical berth database.

[0292] The next step S4 is to allocate at least one quay crane to a crane time window which lies at least partially within an expected duration of the container carrier berth. The allocation is based on the estimated container-related berth workload. E.g. more containers to be loaded and/or unloaded requires longer allocated crane time window. For example, if a quay crane is able to unload 20 containers per hour and a container carrier requires 100 containers to be unloaded, the quay crane is allocated in a crane time window which lasts 5 hours. If instead to container carrier requires 200 containers to be unleaded, the quay crane is allocated in a crane time window of 10 hours.

[0293] The crane time window lies at least partially within an expected duration of said container carrier berth. The crane time window may for example lie fully within, or it may lie partially within. Crane time windows which lie partially, and not fully, within the expected duration of the container carrier berth may for example be further based on a constraint of the quay crane. The quay crane may for example also be allocated to perform transfer of containers in relation to an auxiliary container carrier berth. In such cases, the arrival and/or departure time of the container carrier may for example be rescheduled, such that the crane time window lies within an updated expected duration based on the rescheduling.

[0294] In some embodiments, the duration of the crane time window and/or the location of the crane time window may take other factors into account such as crane movement, breaks of gangs of workers operating the quay crane etc.

[0295] The allocation of the quay crane to a quay time window takes place prior to the actual container carrier berth, such that this allocation may be used as an element in planning long-term operations of the entire container carrier terminal.

[0296] The next step S5 is to operate the at least one quay crane to perform transfer of containers associated with said container carrier during the crane time window. In typical embodiments, the time duration of the operation may typically be approximately equal to the crane time window. However, operations can proceed faster or slower than expected. Therefore, the quay crane is not restricted to be operated within the full duration of the crane time window.

[0297] In some embodiments, the operation of the at least one quay crane in relation to the container carrier berth is primarily performed during said crane time window.

[0298] In some embodiments, the operation of the at least one quay crane in relation to the container carrier berth is only performed within the crane time window.

[0299] In some embodiments, the at least one quay crane is operated within the full duration of the crane time window.

[0300] In some embodiments of the invention, the step of generating S3 and/or the step of allocating S4 are/is repeated several times in the duration extending from the step of step of supplying S2 to the step of eventually operating S5. For example, each time new information relating to the scheduled container carrier berth is received, a new estimated container-related berth workload is be generated. And based on this, at least the quay crane is allocated to a time window anew. Or, for example, an auxiliary container carrier berth of an auxiliary container carrier may be rescheduled to influence the container carrier berth which the at least one quay crane is allocated with respect to, and based on this, the at least one quay crane is allocated once again.

[0301] It should be noted that the rescheduling may be performed according the provisions of the invention by means of new allocation of a crane or in crane in another time window may be eventually executed operationally, but it should also be noted that intermediate updating of allocations of crane resources are highly advantageous even if, at the end, a final execution plan is made on the basis of a work-load which is now known and not estimated. The use of historical data for making an estimation of the workload, e.g. in terms of container moves, has proven attractive in relation to the transition between using estimated workload data and known workload data for allocation of crane(s).

[0302] FIG. 3 illustrates allocation of a quay crane to a crane time window relative to an expected duration of a container carrier berth and rescheduling of a container carrier berth according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0303] In the figure, three panels are shown (top, middle, bottom), which illustrate how a process of rescheduling according to the invention may take place. Each of the panels is a graphical representation of a resource allocation environment 12. In the shown graphical representation 12, the vertical axis indicate time and the vertical extend of a container carrier entry 6 is indicative of the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13. The vertical location of the container carrier entry is indicative of the tentative arrival time and the tentative departure time. Similarly, the vertical extend and of a crane time window 9 indicate the timing and duration of the crane time window 9, for example relative to the container carrier entry 6.

[0304] Such a graphical representation 12 may comprise a plurality of container carrier entries and a plurality of quay crane windows of one or more allocated quay cranes.

[0305] In this embodiment, the graphical representation 12 is executed from top to bottom, i.e. the arrow of time and the time axis points downwards. However, embodiments of the invention are not restricted to any particular arrangement of axes.

[0306] In the top panel, a container carrier entry 6 is shown in the graphical representation 12. It has an expected duration 13, but no associated crane time window.

[0307] In the middle panel, a quay crane has been allocated to a crane time window 9 within the expected duration of the container carrier berth and based on an estimated container-related berth workload. The estimated container-related berth workload is low compared to the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13, and accordingly, the crane time window 9 is substantially shorter than the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13.

[0308] Given the crane time window 9, it is possible for the container carrier to arrive later without compromising the number of container which need to be loaded and/or unloaded. Based on the allocation, the container carrier terminal, or a manager hereof, contacts the container carrier, or a manager hereof. The container carrier or the manager of the container carrier is informed that it is possible to slow the container carrier down to reduce emission of greenhouse gases by the container carrier, and a new tentative arrival time is agreed upon.

[0309] The bottom panel shows how the container carrier entry 6 may be updated based on the crane time window 9, thus reducing the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13 allowing the container carrier to reduce its cruising speed to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.

[0310] FIG. 4 illustrates allocation of a plurality of quay cranes to a plurality of crane time windows relative to expected durations of these container carrier berths according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0311] This figure shows two panels (top, bottom) which illustrate allocating a plurality of quay cranes to container carrier entries with inter-dependencies and constraints. Each of the panels is a graphical representation of a resource allocation environment 12. As in FIG. 3, the vertical axis indicate time. Further, the horizontal axis indicates a position along the quay of the container carrier terminal. Thus, the horizontal location and extend of a container carrier entry indicate expected position and extend of the container carrier association with the container carrier entry. The horizontal extend of the container carrier entry may thus also indicate how many quay cranes which may perform simultaneous transfer of containers on the container carrier associated with the container carrier entry.

[0312] Each of the two panels are associated with a number of quay crane representations. In this exemplary illustration, seven quay crane representations are shown, indicating that seven quay cranes are available for allocation.

[0313] The top panel shows six container carrier entries 6 distributed at different times and quay positions within the graphical representation 12. Here, no of the quay cranes have been allocated to any of the container carrier entries.

[0314] The bottom panel shows an exemplary allocation of the seven quay cranes to various crane time windows within the expected durations of the six container carrier entries. The allocation is based on an estimated container-related berth workload of each container carrier entry. In the graphical representation 12, the allocation of a quay crane to one or more quay crane time windows 9 is indicated by lines extending from the quay crane representations 14 to related crane time windows 9, and between crane time windows 9 of the same quay crane.

[0315] In the allocation, each container carrier entry has one or more quay cranes allocated to one or more crane time windows 9. The crane time windows 9 of each container carrier entry 6 does not necessarily have the same extend. But preferably, the summarized extend of the crane time windows of a given container carrier entry should, at least to some extent, be based on the estimated container-related berth workload of the associated container carrier berth. Note that the maximum number of quay cranes associated with a container carrier/container carrier entry is not necessarily allocated to a container carrier entry. For example, a container carrier may be arranged to have four quay cranes to simultaneously perform transfer of containers, but only three are allocated.

[0316] In this embodiment, the allocation is performed based on crane allocation constraints. For example, quay cranes are not allocated such that they are required to cross each other along the quay during operation. Further, each quay crane is not allocated to more than one crane time window at a time. Additionally, the allocation has been performed with respect to a built-in movement time of cranes between different positions along the quay. However, note that embodiments of the invention are not restricted to particular crane allocation constraints.

[0317] In some embodiments, the allocation is performed manually. In some embodiments, the allocation is performed automatically. The allocation may further be based on an optimization, for example an optimization to maximize the potential reduction of greenhouse gases by minimizing the potential expected durations 13 of the container carrier entries 6.

[0318] FIG. 5 illustrates modifying the crane time window based on a declared container-related berth workload according to an embodiment of an invention.

[0319] In the figure, five panels are shown (top to bottom: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth panel), which illustrate how a process of rescheduling according to an embodiment of the invention may take place. Each of the panels is a graphical representation of a resource allocation environment 12, as also illustrated in FIG. 3. In the shown graphical representation 12 of FIG. 5, the vertical axis once again indicates time and the vertical extend of a container carrier entry 6 is indicative of the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13. The vertical location of the container carrier entry is thus indicative of the tentative arrival time and the tentative departure time. Similarly, the vertical extend and of a crane time window 9 indicate the timing and duration of the crane time window 9, for example relative to the container carrier entry 6.

[0320] In this embodiment, the graphical representation 12 is executed from top to bottom, i.e. the arrow of time and the time axis points downwards.

[0321] In the first panel, a container carrier entry 6 is shown in the graphical representation 12. It has an expected duration 13, but no associated crane time window.

[0322] In the second panel, a quay crane has been allocated to a crane time window 9 within the expected duration of the container carrier berth and based on an estimated container-related berth workload. The estimated container-related berth workload is low compared to the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13, and accordingly, the crane time window 9 is substantially shorter than the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13.

[0323] Given the crane time window 9, it is possible for the container carrier to arrive later without compromising the number of container which need to be loaded and/or unloaded. Based on the allocation, the container carrier terminal, or a manager hereof, contacts the container carrier, or a manager hereof. The container carrier or the manager of the container carrier is informed that it is possible to slow the container carrier down to reduce emission of greenhouse gases by the container carrier, and a new tentative arrival time is agreed upon.

[0324] The third panel shows how the container carrier entry 6 may be updated based on the crane time window 9, thus reducing the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13 allowing the container carrier to reduce its cruising speed to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.

[0325] At a later point in the voyage of the container carrier, a manager of the container carrier provides a declared container-related berth workload to the container carrier terminal. For example, the container carrier has performed a container carrier berth in an auxiliary container carrier terminal after the estimated container-related berth workload was generated, and now the manager of the container carrier has a better overview of how many containers are required to be transferred during the container carrier berth at the container terminal.

[0326] As a consequence of receiving the declared container-related berth workload, the estimated container-related berth workload is generated again, now taking this new information into account. Resultingly, a smaller estimated container-related berth workload is generated, and accordingly, the at least one quay crane is allocated to a shorter crane time window.

[0327] The fourth panel shows the implementation of a shorter crane time window 9 in the container carrier entry 6.

[0328] Given this updated crane time window 9, it is possible for the container carrier to arrive even later without compromising the number of container which need to be loaded and/or unloaded. Based on this new allocation, the container carrier terminal, or a manager hereof, contacts the container carrier, or a manager hereof, again. The container carrier or the manager of the container carrier is informed that it is possible to slow the container carrier further down to further reduce emission of greenhouse gases by the container carrier, and a new tentative arrival time is agreed upon.

[0329] The fifth panel shows how the container carrier entry 6 may be updated again based on the new crane time window 9, thus reducing the expected duration of the container carrier berth 13 further, allowing the container carrier to reduce its cruising speed further to reduce emission of greenhouse gases even more.

[0330] Note that even though the declared container-related berth workload is closer to the actual container-related berth workload than the estimate container-related berth workload, generating an estimated container-related workload is still advantageous, since it allows a preliminary allocation which is close a final allocation, upon which operation of at least one quay crane is based on. The invention thus allows a larger degree of detailed long-term planning, which in may ensure certainty of delivery of goods, enables faster delivery of goods, and reduce emission of greenhouse gases.

[0331] Also, note that even though the container carrier or a manager of the container carrier may have detailed knowledge relating to how many containers requires to be unloaded to the container carrier terminal during the container carrier berth, the container carrier terminal may e.g. have detailed knowledge relating how many containers requires to be loaded to the container carrier during the container carrier berth. Thus, even though the declared container-related berth workload may be the exact number of containers which need to be unloaded, the crane allocation may further require taking the number of containers which need to be loaded into account. Consequently, even a precise and accurate declared container-related berth workload provided well ahead of the container carrier berth may not be sufficient, in itself, to properly allocate one or more quay cranes to time windows which are precise and accurate to handle the actual container-related berth workload.

[0332] FIG. 6 illustrate a workload predictor 16 according to an embodiment of the invention. The workload predictor is linked to a historical berth database 15, and further, the workload predictor is a computer system comprising a workload prediction algorithm 17.

[0333] In this embodiment, the workload prediction algorithm 17 is based on machine learning, and the historical berth database 15 is used as a training dataset for the machine learning. That is, the workload prediction algorithm 17 has been trained to predict/estimate a container-related berth workload based on the historical berth database 15.

[0334] The historical berth database 15 comprises records of past container carrier berths. For example, past container carrier berths at the container carrier terminal. For example, the actual container-related berth workloads of these container carrier berths, and static carrier information relating to these container carrier berths.

[0335] Upon scheduling of a container carrier berth 4 of a container carrier 1 at the container carrier terminal (not shown), a container carrier entry 6 associated with the container carrier berth is supplied to a container carrier terminal system 7. The container carrier is associated with static carrier information which is provided to the workload predictor 16. The workload predictor 16 further receives information relating to the container carrier berth, e.g. container carrier terminal, time and date, etc. Based on the received data and the machine learning trained using the historical berth database, the workload predictor 16 and its workload prediction algorithm 17 generated an estimated container-related berth workload 8.

[0336] Based on the estimated container-related berth workload 8, at least one quay crane 1 is allocated to a crane time window 9 which lies within an expected duration of the container carrier berth 4. The allocation is performed prior to the actual container carrier berth 4.

[0337] Upon arrival of the container carrier at the container carrier terminal and the at least one quay crane 1, the at least one quay crane 1 is operated within the crane time window 9.

[0338] After the container carrier berth, an actual container-related berth workload is supplied to the historical berth database 15, for example together with further information relating to the container carrier berth and static carrier information.

[0339] In some other embodiments of the invention, workload predictor 16 is not based on a historical database 15.

[0340] FIG. 7 illustrates data processing equipment 18 comprising different data records of relevance to embodiments of the invention. Data processing equipment DPE may for example be one or more computers/servers, for example based on cloud storage.

[0341] The data processing equipment 18 comprises at least one or more crane time window data records R1, one or more container carrier entry data records R2, one or more container carrier data records R3, one or more gang data records R4, one or more maintenance data records R5, one or more container carrier terminal data records R6, one or more gang allocation data records R7, and one or more quay crane data records R8.

[0342] A quay crane data record R8 may be understood as a digital record of a quay crane. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00002 Field Value ID 1 Name QC01 Height  53 meters Outreach  70 meters Range from 100 meters Range to 800 meters

[0343] A container carrier data record R3 may be understood as a digital record of a container carrier. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00003 Field Value ID 123 IMO 9778791 Name Madrid Maersk Length 399 meters Beam 58.6 meters Total cargo capacity 20,568 TEU

[0344] A container carrier entry data record R2 may be understood as a digital record of a container carrier entry. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00004 Field Value ID 123 Vessel_ID 123 Service Asia Europe (AE10) Moves Load 200 Moves reload 400 Moves redistribute 50 GMPH 30 Target vessel rate 80 Pilot station arrival 2/4/2020 11:00 Berth arrival 2/4/2020 12:00 Cargo start 2/4/2020 12:00 Cargo end 2/4/2020 18:00 Berth departure 2/4/2020 18:10 Maximum cranes 6 Quay start 400 Quay end 799

[0345] Here, the berth arrival or the cargo start may for example be the tentative arrival time, and the berth departure or the cargo end may be the tentative departure time.

[0346] A crane time window data record R1 may be understood as a digital record of a crane allocation/quay crane allocation. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00005 Field Value Crane_ID 1 Port call: 123 Start 2/4/2020 12:00 End 2/4/2020 18:00

[0347] Here, the port call may be understood as the container carrier entry.

[0348] A maintenance data record R5 may be understood as a digital record of a maintenance, e.g. a maintenance of a quay crane or a part of a quay. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00006 Field Value Crane_ID 1 Maintenance type Corrective maintenance Start 1/2/2020 11:00 End 1/2/2020 23:00

[0349] A gang data record R4 may be understood as a digital record of a gang of workers, e.g. a gang of workers suitable for operating a quay crane. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00007 Field Value Gang_ID 2 Number of workers 10 Regular shift start  8:00 Regular shift end 16:00

[0350] A gang allocation data record R7 may be understood as a digital record of an allocation of a gang, e.g. to a quay crane. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00008 Field Value Gang_ID 2 Crane_ID 1 Port call 123 Allocation start 2/4/2020 12:00 Allocation end 2/4/2020 16:00

[0351] A container carrier terminal data record R6 may be understood as a digital record of a container carrier terminal. In this exemplary embodiment, this record comprises the information shown here:

TABLE-US-00009 Field Value terminal_ID 321 Number of gangs 8:00-16:00 10 Number of gangs 16:00-24:00 8 Number of gangs 00:00-08:00 6 Number of cranes 8 Quay length 1000 meters Allocation end 2/4/2020 16:00

[0352] The above examples of records should be seen as exemplary. Any records according to embodiments of the invention may comprise any information and be linked in any manner within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.

[0353] In particular, it should be mentioned that quay crane records and/or their associated maintenance within the scope of the present invention may be represented in numerous different ways as long as the allocation of a terminal resource in the form of a quay crane may be allocated in the system for use in connection with container carriers and their respective associated container carrier entries. It should also be noted that the maintenance and preferably also restrictions/constraints resulting from a planned maintenance related to e.g. cranes and/or berth should be contained and be processable to a degree that makes it possible to automatically calculate/validate whether the a planned maintenance of one terminal resource affect the functioning/applicability of further non-maintained resources.

[0354] Such constrictions may be applied or contained in separate records but they may e.g. also be contained in relevant resource records. An example of such may be a crane record including e.g. location at where the crane is or is to be maintained and also an information of whether the crane can be moved. This has the effect that a crane which is down for breakdown maintenance may be identified as non-movable and therefore blocking for movement of neighboring cranes and therefore making these neighboring cranes non-usable or restricted during maintenance. Other such “cross” terminal resource constraints may be applied or included for automatic calculation/validation of applicability of terminal resources, i.e. whether these are available or to what degree they are available.

[0355] FIG. 8 illustrates a container carrier terminal 2 for handling container carriers 3 of different sizes according to embodiments of the invention. The container carrier terminal 2 comprises three quays 11 at which container carriers 3 may berth, as well as a plurality of quay cranes 1 disposed at the quays 11. As shown in FIG. 8, four container carriers 3 are currently berthing at the container carrier terminal 2 at the quays 11 of the container carrier terminal 2 and being serviced by the quay cranes 1.

[0356] From the above, it is now clear that the invention relates to method and a system for planning and/or operating a quay crane based on a crane time window, which in turn is based on an estimated container-related berth workload. Long-term planning in container carrier terminals is extremely challenging and due to the high degree of complexity and many unknown factors. By cleverly estimating the number of containers which need to be loaded and unloaded during a future container carrier berth, it thus possible to improve long-term planning of container terminals, which ensures delivery of goods to consumers and production facilities, and which allows container carriers to reduce their speed between container terminals to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.

[0357] The invention has been exemplified above with the purpose of illustration rather than limitation with reference to specific examples of methods and systems for improved quay crane operation. Details such as a specific method and system structures have been provided in order to understand embodiments of the invention. Note that detailed descriptions of well-known systems, devices, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as to not obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary details. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular examples described above and a person skilled in the art can also implement the invention in other embodiments without these specific details. As such, the invention may be designed and altered in a multitude of varieties within the scope of the invention as specified in the claims.

[0358] In the present context all validation may be performed automatically unless specifically otherwise noted.

[0359] At least two principally different ways of initiating a validation may be applied within the scope of the invention. A fully automatic initiation which simply validates when instructed by the planning program logic. Such autonomous validation may not necessary be overruled by a semi-automatic validation which is automatically initiated when a user of a user interface provides inputs e.g. modification(s) of container carrier entries, additions or removals of container carrier entries, modifications of existing available terminal resources, additions or removals terminal resources, modifications of constraints such as maintenance etc.

[0360] A validation in the present context can for example involve an analysis of whether one, all, or a group of container carrier entries are “matched” with allocated terminal resources. In other words, are the demands related to the container carrier entries fulfilled by the terminal resources allocated to the container carrier entries already input and made active in a preliminary or updated terminal resource plan. It may also refer to a non-validated terminal resource plan of ghost entries which is in its making e.g. on the basis of a modification of an active updated terminal resource plan. Such validation may thus be made on ghost data of one scenario based on a modification of an existing terminal resource plan, preliminary or updated terminal resource plan, but it may also be performed on several alternative scenarios of which a berth planner may choose to make one of these active as an updated terminal resource plan.

[0361] A validation may be performed if something has changed in the existing active distribution of container carrier entries vs respective allocated terminal resources and upon registration by manual input of this change by a user of the user interface or by an automatic registration of the change, an automatic validation is performed across all configured container carrier entries vs respective allocated terminal resources. Such a validation may in the present context not only just validate whether the allocation is OK, but it can optionally also result in a warning displayed or otherwise communicated to a user of the container carrier terminal system planning system (which may also be referred to and understood as a berth plan configurator), if the it turns out the present demands as expressed by the container carrier entries (and optional associated logic) are not met validly by the presently allocated terminal resources.

[0362] Factors relevant for such demands may e.g. refer to time, ETA and ETD, number of containers to be unloaded, which resources are available for the unloading, berth locations, cranes, crane gangs etc.

[0363] A validation may also be performed for the purpose of checking whether an auxiliary resource scenario is valid before implementing that scenario as the master resource scenario in an updated terminal resource plan. In other words, such a situation may occur upon a determination the existing berth plan/resource plan is not valid anymore (e.g. due to updated constraints or demands) and now the berth planner and/or an automatic routine are trying to figure out which adjustments to implement to ensure that allocated resources comply with demands once again. This may not always be an easy task and in an advantageous embodiment of the invention, changes of an existing and active berth plan are not made before the considered changes are validated by the system, e.g. as one or more alternatives which may be checked/validated before being made active as an updated terminal resource plan.

[0364] In other words, the container carrier terminal system enables that a user may validate a plan before making it active as well as validate the resource plan automatically if changes has occurred in relation to container carrier entries, allocated terminal resource, demands, or constraints such as maintenance.

[0365] It should be noted that the above changes may of course relate to if a container carrier entry is added or deleted, and if terminal resources are added or deleted, but the changes may preferably also include changes in demands, such as ETA and ETD, number of containers to be unloaded, and also whether the allocated resources has a modified performance, e.g. a part of the berth is not available, a crane is now non-available in relation to maintenance, a crane is now more or less efficient due to maintenance or availability of a more or less efficient gang, a crane is not applicable for certain berth positions due to another crane down for maintenance which is blocking the track, etc.

[0366] In other words, changes which preferably trigger automatic validation includes modified demand and modified resources.

[0367] A validation in the present context should preferably also result in a communication, e.g. by displaying, one or more factual conflicts/violations if such are available and the validation should preferably also result in the that such conflicts are categorized such that a manual operator of the configurator, i.e. the container carrier terminal system, is able to perceive the detected conflicts and make a modification of the berth plan on the basis of these. Such categorization of conflicts may include determination that specific cranes are now “double booked” or that specific cranes are already booked (if trying to validate a new container carrier entry) and the quantization could also include when the specific crane(s) are available or not.

[0368] This categorization may advantageously also be present and provided to a user upon a positive validation, i.e. if it turns out that the berth planner has succeeded in finding a new way of implementing allocations which comply with the demands. This may in particular be of user for a berth planner when the berth planner seeks to find more and alternative configurations to meet the same demand. This may e.g. be performed by working out separate resource scenarios and automatically having these validated. It may of course be very difficult to find a valid new configuration, e.g. if a demand it updated (e.g. a new ETA) or if a crane is requiring planned or acute maintenance, but it is even more difficult to find and optimize a new configuration where the allocated resources match the demand.

[0369] In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the configurator, i.e. the container carrier terminal system, allows the planner to work with multiple alternative scenarios prior to making one of these active but the validation not only provides quantized (detailed) warning if a scenario is not valid, but also provides details if the scenario is valid. Such details could e.g. be an overall automatic calculation of the added cost in relation to gangs/workforce of a certain configuration is used. Several other parameters may also be outputted for the assisting of the berth planner to determine which valid scenario to choose and activate.

[0370] In a further embodiment of the invention, such classifications may be both shown (made available, e.g. be automatically displayed) to the berth planner. The respective quantization of the different scenarios may also be logged for the training of artificial intelligence to determine typical priorities made when a berth planner chooses one scenario over another. This may be used for an automatic computer-made choosing of one scenario over another/other scenario(s) or at least an automatic prioritizing of these scenarios which may be communicated to the berth planner for the assisting of the berth planner in choosing the optimal valid scenario among a number of valid scenarios.

[0371] In a computer implemented validation according to an embodiment of the invention, an auxiliary resource scenario is to be validated before being considered for activation and use as a master resource scenario/updated terminal resource plan. The auxiliary resource scenario may e.g. be established to figure out how to handle a planned maintenance or a breakdown (urgent) maintenance in an optimal way.

[0372] The auxiliary scenario is initially validated by a validation process by data processing equipment 18 (as shown in FIG. 7) in a validation process step.

[0373] If outcome of the validation is that the auxiliary scenario is OK, the auxiliary scenario is then classified in a classification step. The classification involves that a number of different aspects, e.g. cost related to the specific maintenance used in the validated auxiliary scenario. Further costs may also be included in relation to the classification of the validated scenario, which may e.g. include classification of induced and required delays of container carrier entries involved in the establishment a new and valid berth plan, cost related to use of gangs in the scenario, priority given to certain container carrier operators etc.

[0374] Such classifications may then be stored and logged in a database and also displayed to a user in graphical user interface.

[0375] If, on the other hand the auxiliary scenario is turning out to be non-OK in the validation step, the in-validity of the scenario is categorized so as to allow the berth planner to find out where the conflicts are and preferably also the extent of determined the conflict(s).

[0376] The result is then displayed in a display step and the result may also be stored and logged in a database.

[0377] The above validation may be repeated for each auxiliary scenario and for each time an auxiliary scenario is updated with respect to demands and/or terminal resources.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0378] 1 Quay crane [0379] 2 Container carrier terminal [0380] 3 Container carrier [0381] 4 Container carrier berth [0382] 5 Static carrier information [0383] 6 Container carrier entry [0384] 7 Container carrier terminal system [0385] 8 Estimated container-related berth workload [0386] 9 Crane time window [0387] 10 Container [0388] 11 Quay [0389] 12 Graphical representation of resource allocation environment [0390] 13 Expected duration of container carrier berth [0391] 14 Quay crane representations [0392] 15 Historical berth database [0393] 16 Workload predictor [0394] 17 Workload prediction algorithm [0395] 18 Data processing equipment [0396] R1-R8 Data records [0397] S1-S5 Method steps