reclaimers that serve that same pads cannot pass each other.

A brief overview of the events driving the cargo assembly planning process is presented next. An incoming vessel alerts the coal chain managers of its pending arrival at the port. This announcement is referred to as the vessel’s nomination. Upon nomination, a vessel provides its estimated time of arrival ($ETA$) and a specification of the cargoes to be assembled to the coal chain managers. As coal is a blended product, the specification includes for each cargo a recipe indicating from which mines coal needs to be sourced and in what quantities. At this time, the assembly of the cargoes (stockpiles) for the vessel can commence. A vessel cannot arrive at a berth prior to its $ETA$, and often a vessel has to wait until after its $ETA$ for a berth to become available. Once at a berth, and once all its cargoes have been assembled, the reclaiming of the stockpiles (the loading of the vessel) can begin. A vessel must be loaded in a way that maintains its physical balance in the water. As a consequence, for vessels with multiple cargoes, there is a predetermined sequence in which its cargoes 