Electrification of Utility Tractors at Maritime Container Ports

Maritime container ports use various technologies to achieve decarbonization including investing in electrification of vehicles and facilities. There is particular urgency to ensure that capital investments are consistent with future charging facilities and vehicles. Mathematical simulation has been used to predict and avoid disruption and surprises, including evolving requirements, organizations, contract negotiations, anomalous demands, supply chains, grid outages, workforce behaviors, commodity and service markets, obsolescence, regulation, and environmental protection. This study develops a simulation to explore the integration of electric vehicles into freight operations of a maritime container port. The simulation enables the comparison of alternative configurations and capacities of chargers on several time horizons. The effort optimizes performance indices for managers, users, and customers, including emissions, resource utilization, costs, and energy. The simulation addresses four performance metrics, thirty utility tractor rigs, three to fifteen chargers, ten to twenty drivers, five container stacks, and five rail sidings. The simulation describes daily, weekly, and annual schedules and use cases. The results guide $3 billion in investment and suggest how particular business decisions are sensitive to the trajectory of investment in advanced technologies and their configurations.