Truck appointment at container terminals: Status and perspectives

The prosper of international trade causes the sharp congestion and emissions in port surroundings, with the increasing of truck waiting, truck turning and terminal working pressure. As a new strategy in port management, truck appointment system is the key to improve operational efficiency, benefits both port and truck company, and balance their environmental trade-offs. The current status of research in this field is presented in the form of a comprehensive literature review which divides papers into four aspects: control and decision perspective, truck queuing structure, modeling methodology, and coordinated optimization. By means of analyzing and comparing their strength and weakness, we propose three potential future directions: new appointment algorithm with quick response, truck appointment flow time function under the information feedback mechanism, and multi-agent coordinated scheduling and benefit allocation.