Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations

Port congestion and prolonged ship waiting times pose challenges for global trade and increase operational costs and inefficiencies. In this study, a novel machine learning-based predictive approach was proposed to improve port operations by accurately forecasting vessel waiting times. By using a da...

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Main Authors: Min-Hwa Choi, Woongchang Yoon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10982255/
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author Min-Hwa Choi
Woongchang Yoon
author_facet Min-Hwa Choi
Woongchang Yoon
author_sort Min-Hwa Choi
collection DOAJ
description Port congestion and prolonged ship waiting times pose challenges for global trade and increase operational costs and inefficiencies. In this study, a novel machine learning-based predictive approach was proposed to improve port operations by accurately forecasting vessel waiting times. By using a dataset of 121,401 voyage records, we evaluated nine regression models, including conventional, ensemble-based, and deep learning models. Shapley additive explanation (SHAP)-based feature selection is typically applied to enhance interpretability, and its effect is compared with principal component analysis-based dimensionality reduction and nonselection methods. The XGBoost Regressor (XGBR) is optimized using genetic-algorithm-based hyperparameter tuning, reducing mean squared error (RMSE) from 20.9531 to 19.6387, mean absolute error (MAE) from 13.6821 to 12.6753, and improving coefficient of determination (R2) from 0.2791 to 0.2949. A stacking ensemble model, integrating random forest regressor, XGBR, LightGBM regressor, and CatBoost regressor, improves performance, achieving an RMSE of 18.9023, MAE of 12.3287, and an R2 of 0.3265. ANOVA tests confirm numerous differences in model performance and computational complexity. The results demonstrated that tree-based ensemble models outperform deep learning models in this setting. The proposed approach enables proactive scheduling, reduces congestion, and cost savings. The scalability of the model renders it suitable for broad maritime logistics and intelligent transportation systems.
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spelling doaj-art-004899dff21a4f21bc717072e9671f702025-08-20T02:58:54ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113813778139110.1109/ACCESS.2025.356642910982255Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port OperationsMin-Hwa Choi0https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5719-6796Woongchang Yoon1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0544-1553Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Republic of KoreaPort congestion and prolonged ship waiting times pose challenges for global trade and increase operational costs and inefficiencies. In this study, a novel machine learning-based predictive approach was proposed to improve port operations by accurately forecasting vessel waiting times. By using a dataset of 121,401 voyage records, we evaluated nine regression models, including conventional, ensemble-based, and deep learning models. Shapley additive explanation (SHAP)-based feature selection is typically applied to enhance interpretability, and its effect is compared with principal component analysis-based dimensionality reduction and nonselection methods. The XGBoost Regressor (XGBR) is optimized using genetic-algorithm-based hyperparameter tuning, reducing mean squared error (RMSE) from 20.9531 to 19.6387, mean absolute error (MAE) from 13.6821 to 12.6753, and improving coefficient of determination (R2) from 0.2791 to 0.2949. A stacking ensemble model, integrating random forest regressor, XGBR, LightGBM regressor, and CatBoost regressor, improves performance, achieving an RMSE of 18.9023, MAE of 12.3287, and an R2 of 0.3265. ANOVA tests confirm numerous differences in model performance and computational complexity. The results demonstrated that tree-based ensemble models outperform deep learning models in this setting. The proposed approach enables proactive scheduling, reduces congestion, and cost savings. The scalability of the model renders it suitable for broad maritime logistics and intelligent transportation systems.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10982255/Hyperparameter tuningmachine learningpredictionregressionship waiting time
spellingShingle Min-Hwa Choi
Woongchang Yoon
Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations
IEEE Access
Hyperparameter tuning
machine learning
prediction
regression
ship waiting time
title Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations
title_full Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations
title_fullStr Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations
title_full_unstemmed Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations
title_short Predicting Ship Waiting Times Using Machine Learning for Enhanced Port Operations
title_sort predicting ship waiting times using machine learning for enhanced port operations
topic Hyperparameter tuning
machine learning
prediction
regression
ship waiting time
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10982255/
work_keys_str_mv AT minhwachoi predictingshipwaitingtimesusingmachinelearningforenhancedportoperations
AT woongchangyoon predictingshipwaitingtimesusingmachinelearningforenhancedportoperations