Design and implementation of decision support for traffic management at multipurpose port gates

Effective traffic management can help port operators gain a competitive edge in service level and efficient use of limited resources. One critical aspect of traffic management is gate operations management, ensuring a good customer experience to logistic carriers and considering the impact of congestion in and around the port. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a decision support tool to help gate operators plan for future scenarios with fluctuating demand and limited resources. We propose a simulation-optimization framework which incorporates theoretical results from queuing theory to approximate complex multi-lane multi-server systems. Our major contribution in this paper is the demonstration that the proposed design, when coupled with real data, can indeed help port operators improve their performances. To provide concrete real-world evidence that such technology has benefits, we have tested the system operationally since December 2017 and present the results and analysis in this paper.