Project Number:
07-14
Research Project:
Reconfiguration Strategies for Mitigating the Impacts of Port Disruptions
P.I. Name & Address:
Petros Ioannou
Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies
University of Southern California
EE-Systems, MC 2562
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Email: ioannou@usc.edu
Website: http://ee.usc.edu/faculty_staff/faculty_directory/ioannou.htm
Telephone: (213) 740 4452
Fax: (213) 740 4418
Co-P.I:
Anastasios Chassiakos
College of Engineering
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA. 90840-5602
Email: achassk@engr.csulb.edu
Website: http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/coe/ee/views/personnel/fulltime_emeritus/chassiakos.shtml
Telephone (562) 985-4278
Fax: (562) 985-7561
Project Objective:
In this project we plan to study methods of analyzing the impact of port disruptions on the movement of goods, and providing solutions to mitigate such an impact on the terminal, port and regional levels. The specific objectives of the project are:
- To develop a simulation model which will allow the evaluation of the impact of disruption on the terminal operations and the effect of mitigation strategies.
- To model the effects of disruptions at the port level, and develop techniques to mitigate their impact by formulating and solving appropriate optimization problems.
- To model the effects of disruptions at the regional level and develop techniques to mitigate their impact by formulating and solving appropriate optimization problems.
- To develop coordinated mitigation strategies to be used at all levels, in order to reduce the effects of disruptions at any level.
Marine terminals and ports are designed to meet expected demands during normal operations in order to facilitate the smooth and efficient movement of goods. Disruptive events may affect these normal operations, and terminals, ports and regions must be prepared to mitigate such disruptions in an effort to maintain the movement of goods. Disruptions may take place in many different ways and could be anticipated or unanticipated.
The purpose of this project is to investigate methods of modeling and evaluating the effect of disruptions and to develop mitigation strategies for reducing their impact at the terminal, port and regional levels. The first aspect of the proposal is to study disruptive events at the terminal level. The objective at the terminal level is to minimize the effect of disruption on the terminal throughput. At this level we plan to modify the tools we have developed through our previous METRANS work, in order to model the impact of disruptions on terminal operations and associated traffic network, propose mitigation measures, and evaluate their effectiveness. Another aspect of the proposal is to study the effect of disruptions at the port level, where the objective is to route goods to different terminals within the port so that the impact on the overall port throughput is minimized. This will be achieved by formulating certain optimization problems whose solutions will lead to mitigation strategies to be applied by the port. A third aspect of the proposal is to study disruptions at the regional level, where one or more ports may become partially or completely non-functional. The objective is to develop mitigation strategies at the regional level, so that the regional throughput in moving goods is less affected by the disruption. These mitigation strategies will be the outcome of certain optimization problems we plan to formulate and solve. Finally we plan to develop coordinated mitigation strategies to be used at all levels in order to reduce the effect of disruption at any level. The disruptions under consideration will include anticipated events such as rapid military deployment using the port or terminal, labor strikes, etc., and unanticipated events such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, etc.
Task Descriptions:
YEAR 1 (08/01/2006 – 07/31/2007)
Task 1.1: Terminal Disruption Model Develop a simulation model to study the disruption effects on terminal operations and adjacent traffic networks, and the impact of mitigation strategies.
Task 1.2: Optimization techniques and strategies to mitigate terminal disruptions . Develop a set of possible disruptions of operations, equipment and facilities which cause the operational capacity of the terminal to change considerably and abruptly.
Task 1.3: Port Level Disruption Modeling and Mitigation . Model the effects of disruption at the port level. Develop strategies through appropriately formulated optimization problems to minimize the impact on the port throughput. Ships may be routed to berths or terminals which are operational or partially operational. Simulations will be used to demonstrate the results.
YEAR 2 (08/01/2007 – 07/31/2008)
Task 2.1 Regional Level Disruption Modeling and Mitigation Model the effects of disruption at the regional level. Develop strategies through appropriately formulated optimization problems to minimize the impact on the overall regional throughput. Simulations will be used to demonstrate the effects of disruption on the regional level and the impact of mitigation strategies developed.
Task 2.2 Overall Disruption Modeling and Mitigation . Examine coordinated strategies at all levels, terminal, port and regional. In this case the routing of ships, trucks and trains will be optimized in an effort to absorb or dissipate the disturbance caused by a disruption at any level.
Milestones, Dates:
September 1, 2006 – August 31, 2008
Total Budget:
$359,507
Student Involvement:
One graduate student at 50% effort, 9 months
One graduate student at 75% effort, 3 months
One graduate student at 75% effort, 12 months
One graduate student at 75% effort, 9 months
Relationship to Other Research Projects:
Related to 05-12, 05-17, 06-03, 06-11; part of goods movement and international trade focus area
Technology Transfer Activities:
Project report posted on the website
Potential Benefits of the Project:
More efficient goods movement; lessen impact of port disruptions
TRB Keywords:
Port disruptions, terminal operations
Primary Subject:
4b.2 Transportation and logistics system operations and management
Goals:
4c.3 Economic growth and trade
Enabling Research:
4c.11 Tools for modeling and design
Modal Orientation:
4c.13 Highway
