A simulation-based approach for improving stockyard allocation in coal export terminals

The stockyard is a core part of a coal export terminal (CET). Constrained by various influencing factors, studies to deal with the complicated scheduling process of a CET remain insufficiently comprehensive. Until now, for coal stockyards, most stacking scheduling strategies are still manual. The low efficiency of the stockyard has become the main bottleneck that restricts the throughput of a CET. Therefore, this paper proposes a simulation model to capture the whole process of CET operation. A large CET in northern China was selected as a case study to investigate the coal stockyard operation. Four stock position scheduling strategies were analyzed and compared through the simulation technique. Discussion of the simulation results under different strategies can provide a comprehensive basis for stock position scheduling strategy selection by CET managers.