The throughput capacity of most container terminals is determined by the throughput capacity of their container yards (CY), with the latter expressed by the formula:
Throughput Yard Capacity (TEU/Year) = Static Yard Capacity (TEU) x 1/Dwell Time (day) x 365
With:Static Yard Capacity (TEU) = Yard Area (ha) x Storage Density (TEU/ha)
Accordingly, increasing static (holding) yard capacity mandates increasing yard area and/or storage density. Many ports in the era of big ships suffer from shortage in developable waterfront area. Hence, to increase their terminal capacity they need to increase the storage density of their CYs – the subject of this paper.