The Question
Case study · Mining · Mine-to-port export chain
Client's brief · reconstructed excerpt · values held in confidence
(withheld) manages the export chain for a material essential to modern food production, from its mine, across a continental rail network, to vessel terminals on both North American coasts. Unit trains load at the mine, run the rail corridor, and unload into terminal stockyards, where ships load for overseas customers. When trains and ships fall out of step, ships sit at berth waiting for product, or trains wait at the mine for stockyard room. The chain needed a way to test a train or vessel schedule before running it.
Bars cover values SimWell holds and is not releasing. The released figures stand as printed.
§ 1
Every link runs on its own clock. Loadout at the mine depends on rail logistics at the site, the rail corridor has a fixed capacity, each terminal's stockyard holds only so much product, and vessels arrive on schedules set weeks ahead. A delay travels both ways: a late train leaves the stockyard short when a ship arrives, and a late ship leaves the stockyard full while trains back up toward the mine.
Waiting at berth has a price. Dry bulk charters commonly set demurrage at roughly $15,000 to $25,000 a day. At $25,000, a ship held five days past its laytime turns one port call into a $125,000 claim.
§ 2
The whole chain, built in stages. SimWell started with a discovery phase to map the real constraints, then built incrementally so the model could grow with the client's requirements: rail logistics at the mine site, rail corridor capacity, stockpile configurations at each terminal, and vessel schedules. The result is a discrete-event simulation in Arena with its own user interface and connected Power BI reports, so planners can load a train and vessel schedule and see how it plays out.
§ 3
Any train and vessel schedule scenario. Each run shows where time goes to non-value activity: trains waiting to load or unload, stockyards running short or full, and ships at berth without product.
Cleared for release
Planners now test train and vessel schedules before running them, cutting operating time and cost lost to non-value activity and keeping vessels from waiting empty at berth for trains to arrive.
SimWell trained and supported the client's team in using the model and kept it current as the export system changed.
SimWell helps operators make better decisions under uncertainty. We build simulation and optimization models that reflect operational reality, test scenarios before committing resources, and transfer capability so teams can run decisions independently.
More case studies
An open-pit mining company planning to nearly double throughput simulated its mine-to-train chain and ranked equipment investments by their effect on throughput.
Read the case studyTwo advisors said the concentrate could not move. Independent pre-feasibility logistics research found two routes they had missed and informed a US$25M commitment on deadline.
Read the case studyA maritime workforce dispatcher replaced a manual dispatch board with a simulation of every assignment and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Read the case studyWant to learn more? Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates and industry news.
