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Marine ports need technology to remain competitive
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2018/11/17 10:17:16
OCEAN terminals measure their effiency by their turn time - the longer it takes to move a container on or off the ship or through the facility, the costlier that unit becomes in terms of handling and vessel delay. With boxships getting bigger, it's becoming impossible for ports to compete without technology in today's fast paced world.
For years, terminals in Europe and Asia have been vastly superior at container handling. In the States the average ocean terminal performed between 28 and 34 ship to shore lifts per crane per hour. In the Netherlands terminal operators werereporting around 41 moves per hour comparatively. As early as 2015 the port of Tenjin Palapas was lifting 81 containers per crane per hour while Shanghai moved 167 containers per lift per hour using tandem hoist cranes under the control of one operator.
Initially the answer could be found in the number of cranes working the ship. Back in 2015 a US terminal would put 3 to 4 cranes against a 12,000 TEU vessel. In Asia where labour was cheaper the port would throw 5 or 6 cranes against the same size ship.
As ships got bigger, ports in Europe and Asia realise they had to work smarter moving to dual hoist and quad hoist cranes. In addition, the way containers moved within the terminal had to radically change. America was vastly unprepared for the megaship boom sailing over its horizon.
As mega ships began calling Southern California it became apparent that to effectively move containers, the combination of shore cranes and yard equipment needed to work more efficiently, reports American Journal of Transportation.
TraPac Los Angeles was the first container terminal to semi automate their operation. In 2015 TraPac embarked on a project to electrify and automate a portion of its container and rail yards. Utilising Kalmar technology, a traditional ship to shore crane would drop a single box on the quay to be picked up by automated straddle carriers. Guided by magnets mounted in the tarmac these autostrads moved the boxes to remotely operated stacking cranes or the automated rail positioning crane.
Guidance is assisted by advanced laser and GPS technology all controlled from a central operations hub. The days of labour-intensive operations are beingreplaced by the same workforce handling multiple containers in a shorter period of time. Shift changes are accomplished by one operator standing up and another one sitting down at the same console.
Uno Bryfors, senior vice president of ABB Ports noted: "Automation has been maturing and spreading to all sizes and types of terminals. We have delivered automatic stacking crane automation to 27 different terminals around the world each having between 4 and 72 cranes per terminal. In terms of fully automated terminals, Mr Byfors noted that it will still take some 5 to10 years before we see these facilities around the world.
Technology will continue to dominate the construction and redevelopment of ports worldwide. Automated packages as offered by Kalmar and ABB provide "off the shelf" solutions to design and development. The ground has already been broken and it is only a matter of tweaking existing technology.
Shoreside labour worldwide has also begun to understand the need for their ports to remain competitive. Concerns for a stable work environment and job security are still important but with mega ships and increased terminal capacity must come that paradigm shift in port productivity. Will labour and management continue to embrace the issue of productivity through automation and allow ocean terminals to move up and out?
For years, terminals in Europe and Asia have been vastly superior at container handling. In the States the average ocean terminal performed between 28 and 34 ship to shore lifts per crane per hour. In the Netherlands terminal operators werereporting around 41 moves per hour comparatively. As early as 2015 the port of Tenjin Palapas was lifting 81 containers per crane per hour while Shanghai moved 167 containers per lift per hour using tandem hoist cranes under the control of one operator.
Initially the answer could be found in the number of cranes working the ship. Back in 2015 a US terminal would put 3 to 4 cranes against a 12,000 TEU vessel. In Asia where labour was cheaper the port would throw 5 or 6 cranes against the same size ship.
As ships got bigger, ports in Europe and Asia realise they had to work smarter moving to dual hoist and quad hoist cranes. In addition, the way containers moved within the terminal had to radically change. America was vastly unprepared for the megaship boom sailing over its horizon.
As mega ships began calling Southern California it became apparent that to effectively move containers, the combination of shore cranes and yard equipment needed to work more efficiently, reports American Journal of Transportation.
TraPac Los Angeles was the first container terminal to semi automate their operation. In 2015 TraPac embarked on a project to electrify and automate a portion of its container and rail yards. Utilising Kalmar technology, a traditional ship to shore crane would drop a single box on the quay to be picked up by automated straddle carriers. Guided by magnets mounted in the tarmac these autostrads moved the boxes to remotely operated stacking cranes or the automated rail positioning crane.
Guidance is assisted by advanced laser and GPS technology all controlled from a central operations hub. The days of labour-intensive operations are beingreplaced by the same workforce handling multiple containers in a shorter period of time. Shift changes are accomplished by one operator standing up and another one sitting down at the same console.
Uno Bryfors, senior vice president of ABB Ports noted: "Automation has been maturing and spreading to all sizes and types of terminals. We have delivered automatic stacking crane automation to 27 different terminals around the world each having between 4 and 72 cranes per terminal. In terms of fully automated terminals, Mr Byfors noted that it will still take some 5 to10 years before we see these facilities around the world.
Technology will continue to dominate the construction and redevelopment of ports worldwide. Automated packages as offered by Kalmar and ABB provide "off the shelf" solutions to design and development. The ground has already been broken and it is only a matter of tweaking existing technology.
Shoreside labour worldwide has also begun to understand the need for their ports to remain competitive. Concerns for a stable work environment and job security are still important but with mega ships and increased terminal capacity must come that paradigm shift in port productivity. Will labour and management continue to embrace the issue of productivity through automation and allow ocean terminals to move up and out?