Choosing the container handling equipment in a rail-road intermodal terminal through multi-criteria methods

The study proposes a methodology based on the combination of multi-criteria methods for choosing the yard handling equipment in a rail-road container terminal. The methodology contains four steps. The alternative variants of the handling equipment have been determined in the first step. Three types of container handling equipment – electric Rail Mounted Gantry crane (RMG), diesel driven Rubber Tyred Gantry crane (RTG) and mobile Reach Stacker (RS), have been considered. The second step is based on a Technical, Economical, Technological and Ecological (TETE) analysis. The sub-criteria for each main TETE group to assess the alternatives have been defined. The alternatives have been assessed by applying of twenty sub-criteria. The weights of the main criteria and the sub-criteria have been determined in the third step by applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The results of weights given in this step are used in the next fourth step to ranking the alternatives by using Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE) method. The sub-criteria that have main impact of the choice of an alternative are procurement costs (11%), annual operation costs (9%), stacking capacity (9%), annual equipment maintenance costs (6%), flexibility (6%) and carbon dioxide emissions (6%). Three variants according the type of terminal as small, medium and large are investigated. The results have been verified by using Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. It was found that the RS is the suitable alternative for small rail-road terminals, and the RMG is the best one for the medium and large rail-road terminals. The proposed methodology could be applied also to assess other types of handling equipment.