Determining storage locations of containers is an important issue for efficient operation of container terminals. This study assumes a storage yard with a horizontal layout in which blocks are laid out in parallel to the quay and trucks enter at the side of a block to deliver (receive) a container to (from) the yard crane. Various storage rules for determining storage locations of containers are introduced. Simulation studies are conducted for evaluating various rules. The following guidelines are derived from the result of our simulation study: when designing a block, consider a block configuration in which the longest gantry and the longest trolley travel times of rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGCs) are similar; do not restrict the types of containers that can be stored in a storage area; if different roles are to be assigned to different storage areas, one possible way is to divide a bay into two areas so that some rows in the bay are allocated to inbound containers while the other rows in the same bay are allocated to outbound containers; reserve the space in bay unit for a high productivity of RMGCs but reserve the space in stack unit when the storage space is not enough; when the storage space is not sufficient, allocate storage location in a way of starting from the end and ending at the middle of a block; for reducing the travel distance of internal trucks, provide a higher priority to a block nearer to the berthing position of the corresponding vessel.