An In-depth Analysis and Performance Improvement of a Container Relocation Algorithm

The CRP(Container Relocation Problem) algorithms pursuing efficient container relocation of wharf container terminal can not be deterministic because of the large number of layout cases. Therefore, the CRP algorithms should adopt trial and error intuition and experimental heuristic techniques. And because the heuristic can not be best for all individual cases, it is necessary to find metrics which show excellent on average. In this study, we analyze GLAH(Greedy Look-ahead Heuristic) algorithm which is one of the recent researches in detail, and propose a heuristic metrics HOB(sum of the height differences between a badly placed container and the containers prohibited by the badly placed container) to improve the algorithm. The experimental results show that the improved algorithm, GLAH', exerts a stable performance increment of up to 3.8% in our test data, and as the layout size grows, the performance increment gap increases.