HIT lifted container terminal capacity 50% with one yard-wide optimizer

Hongkong International Terminals, flagship of Hutchison Port Holdings, is the busiest container terminal on the planet: over 10,000 trucks and 15 vessels a day, roughly six million TEUs a year, and hundreds of operational decisions every minute.

The 3P program uses OR in four linked areas: an automated container grounding strategy for yard stacking, an internal truck deployment system, an external truck handling system at the gates, and a movement scheduler that synchronizes container moves across the yard.

Through the system HIT increased capacity by 50 percent and cut unproductive movement of equipment. Management said the gain in service capacity without constructing more terminals was a hallmark for the environment and shareholders.

Optimize the whole yard as one system

Hundreds of interdependent decisions per minute reward a system-wide model

Stacking, trucks, gates, and movements were solved as one problem

A 50% capacity gain avoided costly terminal construction

Rollout to other HPH ports multiplied the tool's value

When hundreds of decisions are made per minute, optimizing each resource separately leaves most of the value on the table; one yard-wide model converts throughput gains into avoided capital spending.

HIT was named a 2004 Franz Edelman Award finalist among 30 organizations. Managing director Eric Ip said the capacity gain without new construction was a hallmark for shareholders, and HIT planned to roll the innovations out to Hutchison Port Holdings terminals worldwide.