AGV-Based Vehicle Transportation in Automated Container Terminals: A Survey

To respond to the rapid growth of shipping container throughput, terminals urgently need to improve the efficiency of thier operations and reduce operational costs through automation and intellectualization upgrades, thereby improving service levels and enhancing market competitiveness. Due to the advantages of reliable transportation, efficient operation, and environmental friendliness, AGV-based automated container terminal (ACT) has become the development trend of container terminals. To help ACT improve its operational management capabilities, plenty of scholars have explored the transportation system of ACT. Through the analysis of operational management issues, the paper defines the four main research topics in vehicle transportation of the ACT including equipment scheduling, path planning, exception handling, and vehicle management. Then, in each topic, the works in the recent 25 years are summarized and several research opportunities for possible follow-up research directions in different fields are proposed. We expect our survey could not only provide references for more scholars on the research of operation and management of terminals, but also provide guidance for system evaluation and improvement for terminal system engineers and operation managers.