Analytical models for evaluating the productivity of marine cargo front of container terminals
The work revealed that the increase in sizes and enhancement of vessels specialization, which was a consequence of changes in technology, led to a whole cluster of technical and economic consequences for all participants in the transport process: carriers, port operators, shippers. The shift in the center of gravity of all operational problems was determined to become noticeably shifted to the sea cargo complex of container terminals, more precisely to the performance of its operations, the necessity to create a model of a new type of port development and the requirements it must meet. The basic principle is mathematically substantiated, which ensures the high competitiveness of a large container terminal, which is the maximum outfitting the sea cargo complex with handling equipment. At the same time, it is emphasized in the paper that it is implied the maximum and not the optimal number of cranes on the berth. This operational resource allows not only to serve vessels in a wide range of required quality, but also to cope with peak surges in cargo traffic. The relative cost of this redundant resource relative to other infrastructure components of the terminal is not so great. In addition, it was noted that the decision to introduce certain loading equipment requires a comprehensive consideration of the problem, in particular, it is necessary to take into account the relative cost of resources. It should be noted that in the conducted study, for the sake of simplicity, an assumption was made that it is possible to place an arbitrary number of material handlers for work on any vessel.