Truck Dispatch Optimization — Port of Itaqui

The Port of Itaqui is one of the largest ports in northeastern Brazil, handling bulk commodities including soybeans, grains, fertilizers, and minerals. Inefficient truck dispatch during unloading operations resulted in long queues, idle engine emissions, and elevated operational costs.

NCA-UFMA applied a combination of mathematical programming models and discrete-event simulation to redesign the dispatch protocol. The simulation model was calibrated against historical arrival and service time distributions before being used to evaluate alternative dispatching policies.

The optimized policy, implemented in the port’s operational procedures, achieved:

• Operational: 30% reduction in average vehicle waiting time, reducing driver fatigue and improving scheduling predictability for logistics partners
• Economic: 15% decrease in total operational costs per unloading cycle, through better berth utilization and reduced overtime
• Environmental: 20% reduction in CO₂ emissions from idling vehicles, contributing to the port’s sustainability reporting targets