Exploration of models for a cargo assembly planning problem

We consider a real-world cargo assembly planning problem arising in a coal supply chain. The cargoes are built on the stockyard at a port terminal from coal delivered by trains. Then the cargoes are loaded onto vessels. Only a limited number of arriving vessels is known in advance. The goal is to minimize the average delay time of the vessels over a long planning period. We model the problem in the MiniZinc constraint programming language and design a large neighbourhood search scheme. The eects of various optional constraints are investigated. Some of the optional con- straints expand the model's scope toward a system view (berth capacity, port channel). An adaptive scheme for a greedy heuristic from the literature is proposed and compared to the constraint programming approach. The Hunter Valley Coal Chain (HVCC) refers to the inland portion of the coal export supply chain in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. Most of the coal mines in the Hunter Valley are open pit mines. The coal is mined and stored either at a railway siding located at the mine or at a coal loading facility used by several mines. The coal is then transported to one of the terminals at the Port of Newcastle, almost exclusively by rail. The coal is dumped and stacked at a terminal to form stockpiles. Coal from dierent mines with dierent