Integrated optimization of vessel traffic organization and heterogeneous tugboat scheduling in a seaport with dual one-way channels

Abstract

The joint optimization of vessel traffic organization and tugboat scheduling plays a critical role in improving the efficiency of port seaside operations. However, most existing studies are limited to single-channel environments or assume homogeneous tugboat fleets, whereas real-world ports are typically characterized by heterogeneous tugboat resources and, in some cases, complex multi-channel structures. To address this gap, this study investigates an integrated optimization problem combining vessel traffic organization with heterogeneous tugboat scheduling in a port with a dual one-way channel configuration. To capture the strong spatiotemporal coupling inherent in such operations, a bi-objective mixed-integer linear programming model is developed with the objectives of minimizing total weighted vessel waiting time and total tugboat fuel consumption. A tailored non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm incorporating an archive-guided adaptive multi-neighborhood search mechanism is proposed to efficiently solve the model. Computational experiments based on a northern Chinese seaport demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the CPLEX solver and several benchmark heuristic algorithms. The resulting Pareto solutions explicitly reveal the trade-off between vessel service efficiency and tugboat energy consumption, from which managerial implications are derived to support the formulation of coordinated scheduling strategies.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2026 · DOI ↗