Petri Net model of transhipment activities executed by human operators in a container terminal

This paper proposes a Petri net representation of the activities performed by the most important human operators during processes of downloading/loading containers in an intermodal terminal. These processes are the core of export, import, and transshipment cycles executed in the terminal. The aim of this research is to take into account the human component together with the material handling resources, i.e. cranes, trailers, stacking areas, etc., such that a complete model could be defined to describe how all the system resources are used and coordinated to fulfil the task of serving vessel or feeder ships. The developed model can be translated to a simulation environment, where it is useful to validate the approach, to test the efficiency of the processes, and to propose alternative solutions to the different problems that could arise to optimize the activities of the terminal.