Abstract: Automated straddle carrier is a kind of automatic horizontal operation equipment for container terminals, which can pick and place containers independently between quayside bridge and storage yard. In this paper, the job scheduling problem of automatic terminal straddle carriers was transformed into the vehicle routing problem of simultaneous pick-up and delivery. With the goal of minimizing the completion time, a mixed integer programming model for the assignment of straddle carriers based on rolling plan was established. Combined with ant colony algorithm with improved volatilization coefficient, the job sequence of straddle carriers was optimized. Through experimental analysis, the number of straddle carriers and the optimal planning period length were obtained.