A Barge Sequencing Heuristic

This paper describes a heuristic method for sequencing barge unloadings at terminals that have regulated unloading rates or flows with the objective of minimizing the variation of a common constituent in the final combined output. The work was undertaken in response to the desire of a steel manufacturer to minimize the maximum sulfur content in coal entering the coking ovens after being mixed by the simultaneous unloading of barges onto a common conveyor. Although the problem may be given an integer programming formulation, the solution method we propose enables one to obtain optimal or near optimal solutions by hand. A hypothetical problem is solved to illustrate the procedure.