MHCL 2026 conference
50th Anniversary (1976–2026)

Abstract: To alleviate the truck congestion in container terminals, issues of modeling truck congestion pricing are addressed. A bi-level programming model is developed to determine the optimal toll rates. The upper level model is to minimize the average truck waiting time by optimizing toll rates of different periods. The lower level is user equilibrium model in which each truck driver chooses its arrival time according to the toll strategy of upper level model. The feedback of upper-level and lower-level model forms the optimal toll strategy. To solve the model, a method heuristic based algorithm is designed. Finally, numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed model and algorithm. Results indicate that congestion toll can decrease truck’s queuing time effectively. The developed toll pricing model reflects the benefit of truckers and terminal operators, which promotes the use of toll as an efficient tool to alleviate the truck congestion and improve the terminal efficiency.

Qian Zhang
Ph.d candidate
Dalian Maritime University
School of Transportation Management

Bo Lu
asociate professor
Dalian University
Research Center of Logistics &
University of Chinese Academy of Science
School of management

Nam Kyu Park
Professor
Tongmyong University
School of Port and Logistics