-heavier containers at the bottom for stability
-refrigerated containers on the inside to reduce heat loss
-containers to be unloaded first near the top
etc
And all in 3 dimensions!
In the same vein, port /starboard / bow / stern balance.
> -containers to be unloaded first near the top
Containers with the same destination in separate places so that multiple cranes can run in parallel without infringing on each other's work-zones.
Truly an interesting project for people who get stuck trying to optimize too many things at once. :p
It's strange to me that the cargo space has not been aggressively optimized. It's a pretty substantial part of civilization and, I believe, there's definitely some money sloshing around there.
To be fair, a completely optimal solution definitely seems out of reach, but I'm not interested in those.
Just imagine the contingency planning due to restrictions in unloading.
There are also a lot more constraints than weight and balance and they're constantly changing; some may rule out big chunks of the state space which is very good, but it's still a Hard Problem.
But it's not like there aren't people already doing it.
But an automated system sounds like it has its own problems, how does it make sure it has proper ventilation and comes on at the right time? Probably I don't want the container to start venting diesel fumes when it's deep in a stack of lego surrounded on all sides.
It has to be automated since it’s a refrigeration unit that needs to know when to turn on the cooler. The control circuit starts up the generator if it senses no power connection at that time, usually off a standard marine lead acid battery.
It should be straight forward to include full wagon power with the upcoming DAC4EU coupling (UIC 552 says that normal coaches are to have an 800A through connection that's regularly fed with 1000V 16.7Hz or 1500V 50Hz; this is single-wire earth(/track)-return).
Keep in mind that unlike North American freight trains, Europe mainline service is almost fully electrified. Thus the reefer would be grid-fed.
I'm asking because I'm looking to propose a change to the current plans for the electric coupler (use near-field RF instead of the currently-preferred single-pair Ethernet or it's fallback powerline; I think 802.11 has suitable PHY options, especially among the OFDM codes if the near-field chamber is dispersive and/or has problematic resonances in the channel), and throwing in "grid power for reefers" with actual numbers from the reefer container industry would be easy (a change to the coupler is a change, and the additional cable through the wagon shouldn't be that extensive either if it's an economical aluminum type; also this would allow passenger coaches that are currently using the pre-DAC4EU hook and chain coupling to be used with DAC4EU rolling stock).
IIRC international reefers require three phase power with a 50 amp breaker so even 800 amps won't get you very far if they all start up at once.
Also, because of the short time requirement, and some extreme low temperature requirements on some cargo, it needs to be in a place where it can be disconnected and very quickly craned off the ship.
The engineer making and breaking the connections will generally have to manually log the time of these actions and the time of the unload. It's all a very interesting and somewhat complicated process.