A Rule-based Greedy Algorithm to Solve Stowage Planning Problem

The Stowage Planning problem is the problem of allocating containers to specific slots on the vessel in each container terminal on the vessel's route. The objective is to minimize the total number of container loading and unloading movements. Sometimes an unnecessary movement occurs when the desired container is located beneath another one that is not desired at the moment. This unnecessary movement is called shift, shifts are time and money consuming. In this paper, a rule-based greedy algorithm was applied to solve the problem. The algorithm was tested against 45 instances found in the literature and proved its efficiency and effectiveness.