One of the potential problems in ports, which are expected to be compounded with the growth of the volumes of trade, is the dwelling of goods and its consequent costs. Container dwell time equals the duration containers are discharged and transported from ships to depots in order to be stored until the time the goods owner has released containers and dismissed it from terminals. The dwelling of goods results in taking up storage yards and port lots through congestion as well as decreasing Executive efficiency in loading and discharging which may cause an increase in lay time and demurrage costs. The purpose of the current study is an Application of ELECTRE III and Shannon Entropy for Strategy Selection for decreasing the Containers Dwell Time in Iranian Seaports. Firstly, factors involving in the Containers dwell time were dealt with in a review of the literature. Secondly, Executive strategies to decrease the Containers dwell time were formalized employing Delphi method. Thirdly, the strategies, formalized at the second stage, were prioritized by use of Shannon Entropy and ELECTRE III. According to The final results of the ELECTRE III method following strategies gained highest priority, using electronic systems, reducing the paperwork and parallel processes in cargo clearance, employing road and rail intermodal transport, round-the-clock customs operation, enhancing coordination and collaboration among organizations involved in the issuance of cargo clearance, respectively.

Now day selection of optimum quay Sid equipment for loading and discharging the dry bulk cargo can maximize the overall efficiency of Terminal. For this end the current applied study was implemented by the aim to choose the best equipment for discharging dry bulk cargoes in BIK Grain terminal using TOPSIS and Shannon entropy method in three phases. In the 1st phase, the most important decision-making criteria for choosing the most appropriate equipment were identified by using experts' interview and investigating the previous researches and holding brain storm meetings with the Grain Terminal's experts. Then in the 2nd phase, the weight of every identified criteria using Shannon entropy method, Was determined. The abstained result from Shannon entropy method indicates that service facility criterion with the scale of 0.06 has earned the maximum and operator cost criterion with the scale of 0.034 obtained the least. In the 3rd phase, using scale 1-9 of each equipment regarding shall be scored based on the criteria and according to the obtained scores for each equipment of the decision- making matrix of the TOPSIS method was established and finally, with respect to the weight of each earned criteria, the equipment shall be scored in the 2nd phase and the most optimum shall be selected. The final results from TOPSIS method indicates that unloader with (Ci=0.91346) enjoys the 1st and the vacuum with (Ci=0.26382) the 2nd and grab with (Ci=0.00000) ranks.