Overview The Yard Block is a storage area for containers. It is composed of cells laid out in rows and columns. The Yard Block is flat and containers are stacked on top of one another. Usually, several blocks will be in the yard. A block can hold a specific type of container, such as just "imports" or just "exports." You can sort containers in a block, such as grouping those destined for the same ship. <a name="params">Properties</a> <a name="params"></a> <a name="params">Block Name</a><a name="params">- This value is the name assigned to the yard block. It is used in the Yard Planner for creating areas and/or block assignment rules.</a> <a name="params">Number of 20 ft Bays</a><a name="params">- This value determines how many bays (or columns) are in the yard block. The default value is 20. The term "bay" is used to describe a section of the block holding 20ft containers as well as a section holding 40ft containers even though the section holding 40ft containers is double in length. Therefore, this parameter is qualified as the number of </a><a name="params">20ft</a><a name="params"> bays. You may also specify how long each 20ft bay is. The default value is 24.00ft, which allows some cushion between bays and also allows 45ft containers to fit into a 40ft bay.</a> <a name="params">Number of Cells</a><a name="params"> - This value determines how many cells (or rows) are in the yard block. The default value is 6. You may also specify how wide each cell is. The default value is 9.60ft, which allows some cushion between standard sized containers.</a> <a name="params">Number of Tiers High</a><a name="params">- This value determines how high containers can be stacked on top of each other. The default value is 5. RTGs are typically tall enough to handle a stack that is 5 containers high. By setting the value to 5, the RTG will attempt to stack containers only 4 tiers high so that it has an extra layer to work with when it needs to dig out a container.</a> <a name="params">Note: This value does not actually limit how high containers will be stacked at runtime. If the yard block runs out of capacity, containers will be stacked infinitely high. The RTG will continue to function, but it will look incorrect graphically. If you intend to use a value higher than 4 or 5, you may want to resize your RTG so that it will look correct.</a> <a name="params">Maximum Bay Capacity</a><a name="params">- This value is the number of containers each bay can hold. The value should be less than the actual capacity of the bay so that the RTG or top loader will leave room for digging. A good value for this number should follow the formula:</a> <a name="params">Number of Cells \* (Number of Tiers High - 1)</a> <a name="params">Stack</a><a name="params">- These dropdown boxes determine the order in which the yard block is filled. From a visual perspective, it determines if the block is filled back-to-front or front-to-back and left-to-right or right-to-left. This selection is more important when a top loader is operating on the block than when an RTG is operating on the block. The top loader should fill the block from back-to-front so that it does not appear to "run over" containers while working. The meaning of back-to-front depends on the orientation of the block and the location of the top loader.</a> <a name="params">Segregate By</a><a name="params">- This set of checkboxes determine the segregation strategies for the yard block. Smart segregation can improve the efficiency of the yard. As an example, you may have a yard block that only holds export containers (those going onto a ship). A good segregation strategy would be to segregate by ship and hatch. When it's time to fill the hatch, the RTG can simply pull containers from a section of the block systematically without digging or moving up and down the block.</a> <a name="params">Do ordered unstacking if segregated</a><a name="params">- This checkbox toggles FlexTerm's ability to treat similar containers as interchangeable. Each container in FlexTerm has a unique id so that the software can properly track it. When a truck is assigned to pickup a container, it is given the id of a specific container to retrieve. Sometimes this is appropriate because your model hinges on this fact as well. Most of the time, however, containers are segregated in the block so that similar containers are stacked together and any container of the same type destined for the same place is as good as any other. </a> <a name="params">If this box is checked, containers are treated as interchangeable. When a truck comes to get a container, the id is unimportant and the truck is given a similar container from the top of the stack. Thus a segregated block is unstacked in an orderly fashion. This method saves significant amounts of digging and restacking. If this box is unchecked, containers are treated as unique. When a truck comes to get a container, the id is important and the RTG or top loader will dig for that specific container.</a> <a name="params">The dropdown box below this checkbox is only relevant when the box is checked and containers are interchangeable. In this case, the block will be unstacked in the order specified in the dropdown box. Options include "Unstack from lower to higher cell numbers" and "Unstack from higher to lower cell numbers." Visually, this determines if the block is emptied back-to-front or front-to-back. Like the "Stack" ordering, this selection is more important when a top loader is operating on the block. The top loader should empty the block from front-to-back so that it does not appear to "run over" containers while working. The meaning of front-to-back depends on the orientation of the block and the location of the top loader.</a> <a class="calibre7" name="params">Yard Block Diagram</a> <a name="params"></a> <a name="params"> The diagram in the upper right corner of the yard block properties window describes how the block is organized. This graphic describes the block in the default orientation where positive x is to the right, positive y is up, and positive z is toward you.</a> <a name="params">Cells are the smallest unit of a block. Each rectangle represents a single cell. Cells are numbered from front-to-back and then left-to-right. In a block that is only 3 rows deep, the rectangle in the bottom left is cell 1 (the orange container in the diagram), cell 2 is behind that (blue container) and cell 3 is behind that (yellow container). Cell 4 is to the right of cell 1, cell 5 is behind cell 4 and to the right of cell 2 and cell 6 is behind cell 5 and to the right of cell 3.</a> <a name="params">Bays are the next unit of a block, denoted by the columns of the block. Bays are numbered from left-to-right. A bay can either be a 20ft bay (holding 20ft containers) or a 40ft bay (holding 40ft or 45ft containers). Odd numbered bays represent 20ft bays and are 1 column wide while even numbered bays represent 40ft bays and are 2 columns wide. The first column is a 20ft bay and is bay 1. The second column is a 20ft bay and is bay 3. The first and second columns combined are a 40ft bay and are bay 2. The odd and even numbered bays overlap, but can only contain the size of container they are designated for (a 40ft bay cannot hold a mix of 40ft and 20ft containers), therefore it is easy to distinguish the size of container in the bay by whether the bay is odd or even numbered.</a> <a name="params">Tiers are the third unit of a block, represented by each vertical level of the block. Tiers are numbered from bottom-to-top. The first level of containers in the block is tier 1. Containers stacked on top of the first level are tier 2. Containers stacked 3 high are tier 3. A block is typically 5 tiers high.</a>