Thus, we focus on berth allocation decisions, stockpile location decisions, and stockpile assembly start time decisions. In this paper, we discuss the development of stockyard planning technology that considers the first three phases of the planning process simultaneously. This is the underlying reason for having a cargo assembly plan. Because of this, such capacities need to be taken into account when making decisions regarding the location and assembly start time of stockpiles. The amount of time it takes to assemble a stockpile depends on the movements of coal from the mines to the stockyard, and thus it depends on the available load point capacity at the mines and stacking capacity at the stockyard. Thus, decisions on where to locate a stockpile and when to start the assembly of a stockpile are critical for the overall efficiency of the system. Once coal has been delivered to the stockyard, and the assembly of a stockpile has started, it is rare that the location of the stockpile in the stockyard is changed relocating a stockpile is time-consuming and requires resources (stackers and reclaimers) that could be allocated to other stockpiles. We note that this aspect of the operation will become increasingly important as mines to be opened in the future will be further away from the port. This is, in part, due to the fact that some of the mines are located several hundred miles away from the port and just getting a single trainload of coal to the port takes a considerable amount of time. Finally, in the fourth phase, a detailed cargo assembly schedule is produced that specifies the precise timing of the trains that bring coal from the mines to the terminal.ĭepending on the size and the coal blend of a cargo, the assembly may take anywhere from two to ten days. In the third phase, a cargo assembly plan is developed that indicates the daily movements of coal from the mines to the stockyard. In the second phase, the cargoes (blends of coal) that need to be assembled and loaded onto the vessel are allocated a space in the stockyard. In the first phase, the ships arriving at the port are assigned to one of the berths at the terminal. We focus on cargo assembly terminals as they are more difficult to operate due to the large variety of coal blends that needs to be accommodated.Īt a cargo assembly terminal the planning process can be thought of, conceptually, as consisting of four phases. When a terminal operates as dedicated stockpiling terminal, it operates in a “push-based” manner, where a small number of coal blends are built in dedicated stockpiles and only these coal blends can be requested by arriving vessels. When a terminal operates as a cargo assembly terminal, it operates in a “pull-based” manner, where the coal blends assembled and stockpiled at the terminal are based on the demands of the arriving ships. The stockyards are where cargoes of (typically blended) coal product are assembled in stockpiles using stacking machines, and then reclaimed using bucket wheel reclaimers for transport via conveyor belts to shiploaders at the berths.Īn important characteristic of a coal terminal is whether it operates as a cargo assembly terminal or as a dedicated stockpiling terminal.
Primarily, we look at the stockyards in the coal terminals. In this paper, we focus mainly on the terminal end of the coal export chain, but we cannot completely ignore the front end of the chain, as operations at the terminals are heavily dependent on a rail system transporting coal from mine load points to the terminals.
For a more in-depth description of the HVCC see Boland and Savelsbergh ( 2012). The Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator (HVCCC) is responsible for the coordination and planning of the coal transportation process, a highly complex logistical operation that begins with rail scheduling at mine load points and ends with the load planning of ships at the port. Coal is exported through three coal terminals at the Port of Newcastle servicing more than 1,000 coal-carrying ships annually. Thirteen coal producers owning approximately 35 mines operate in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. With over 100 million tons of coal exported annually, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain (HVCC) is the largest exporter of coal in the world.
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