Operational responsiveness for increasing port capacity and level of service.

Analysis of historical data by a generalized state-dependent queueing model was performed to ascertain that berth service times and ship arrival rates at Port of Bangkok were responsive to the number of ships in the port. The relationships between port capacity, level of service, and operational responsiveness were theoretically explored. It was found that a port with existing facilities and/or a relatively small investment can accommodate more ships and handle more cargo by operating responsively to the state of the system. The study revealed that feedback, although existed in the operations at Port of Bangkok, was, however, not a planned instrument. Improvement in servicing quality had been due to capacity increase.