RMG vs. DRMG: an evaluation of different crane configurations in intermodal transshipment yards

Transshipment yards, which constitute the interface between rail and road container transport, are important entities in today’s intermodal distribution networks. The efficiency of container handling in these yards especially depends on the huge gantry cranes, which transship containers between freight trains and trucks. This paper explores whether a novel crane generation—namely double-rail-mounted gantry cranes (DRMGs) hitherto only rarely applied in the container yards of some seaports—is also a suited choice for transshipment yards. We compare the status-quo, conventional rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs), which move on the same rail tracks and, thus, cannot pass each other, with DRMGs, which add flexibility and enable a crossing of differently sized cranes. A comprehensive computational study explores the efficiency of both crane configurations in the transshipment yard context. The main findings are that neither sophisticated scheduling approaches notably outperform simple rules-of-thumb nor DRMGs considerably increase performance in the most yard settings.