Evaluating the Impact of Vessel-Traffic Interference on Container Terminal Capacity

Since the 1980s, the demand for Hong Kong’s container handling facilities has been increasing due to the robust economic growth in South China. As more and more vessels call on Hong Kong’s container terminals, the vessels moving in the basin surrounded by the container terminals will have a bigger chance of interfering with one another, due to the need to comply with navigation safety requirements. The interference often necessitates the vessels to stop occasionally while moving along their navigation paths in order to avoid potential collisions. This paper develops a simulation model for studying the impact of the vessel-traffic interference in Hong Kong’s terminal basin on its container terminals’ capacities. Major navigation safety requirements and terminal operational characteristics are considered in the model. The model’s simulation results show that the delays due to the vessel-traffic interference lead to a considerable reduction in Hong Kong container terminals’ capacities. This model can assist the container terminals in estimating the benefits of coordinating vessel movements in the terminal basin.