Other attributes
Port automation refers to the use of different technologies and systems to automate the operations of a port. One of the main portions of this technology is to use automated systems to move containers from quay cranes to the container stack. One major trend in the automation for ports has been the retrofitting of existing port technology towards more automated technology, which tends to result in semi-automated port technology that is combined with the expertise of existing port workers.
One of the first port terminals to introduce automation was Rotterdam, which began introducing automated systems in 1993. Rotterdam has since become a fully automated port, along with China's Qingdai, Yangshan, Ningbo Zhousan, and Australia's Port of Melbourne. Qingdai and Melbourne were the first ports to reach full automation in 2017. In the case of Qingdai, the port, when it opened, was capable of handling on average 26.1 containers per crane per hour. By late 2018, a little over a year later, the capability had increased to 33.1 containers per crane per hour, or 50 percent better than the worldwide average.
Further, the Qingdai port only needs nine workers to help discharge a ship, which is down from the sixty that were required in the past. Both ports, due to the use of automated systems, also saw lower longer term operating costs, greener credentials, less fuel consumption and lower overall emissions, and improvement in productivity. Installation of automated systems has also seen collateral increases in safety.
Ports provide an ideal environment for automation, as many if not all of the tasks are repetitive and straightforward, which generate vast amounts of readily collected and processed data. As well, it is an industry in which automation can see gains in cost savings, performance, and safety. However, automation in the port industry has lagged behind other comparable industries, such as mining or warehousing, where the environments are similar in their repetitive work and predictability, and where automation has improved costs and productivity by 20 to 40 percent for mining and 10 to 20 percent for warehousing. However, in port automation, the return on invested capital of assets at some automated ports is falling short by up to one percentage point from the industry norm of about 8 percent.
The main areas where ports automate include the following:
- Yard management
- Port gates
- Stacking cranes
- Horizontal transport
- Quay cranes
Yard management includes berth, stowage, yard, and labor planning. Automation in yard management allows for more effective positioning of containers and equipment to increase the overall throughput with the same assets. And through automation, mistakes in stacking and distribution, or confusion over worker shifts, are reduced and the delays involved in these mistakes are removed to increase overall efficiency. As well, software has been shown to be better than human operators at planning, and since the 1990s, automated yard management has been one of the most advanced sectors of port automation.
When anything enters or leaves a port it has to go through gates. Security, weighbridges, customs, and immigration are critical and the manual processes slow things down where automation in these processes can smooth and speed up a system. Also known as automated gate systems (AGSs), these systems when automated often rely on optical character recognition and radio frequency identification to capture data about inbound and outbound containers. Further, these systems need to have documentation electronically provided before picking up or dropping at the terminal, which can further improve processing time and reduce errors and delays. AGSs have also been paired with mobile technologies to alert truck drivers to when a pick up or drop is able, and to schedule those appointments, which can provide better demand planning and prediction, and an overall better understanding of terminal gate access time and frequency distribution.
Stacking cranes, as the name suggests, are responsible for stacking containers in the yard. The yard itself is a controlled, predictable environment, which makes it an ideal environment for automation. While automated stacking cranes (ASCs) tend to be robotic systems using lidar-based vision to position containers within 50 millimeters of their intended position. They also often have anti-collision systems to ensure they stop moving if they detect an obstacle in their direction of travel. These ASCs work with other automated systems to either move containers out of or into the yard and can be used for loading and unloading containers from trucks or other delivery vehicles.
When a ship is ready for loading, or is being unloaded, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) or automated straddle carriers (AutoStrads) are used to carry containers from stacks to quay, or vice versa. These are similar to automated systems that have been used in warehouses and factories for years, although in the port scenario the biggest challenge is the guidance system. In warehouses, for example, these systems are often controlled by guide wires or magnetic tapes in the floor, and couple with lidar or GPS. While the scale of container ports and the large stacks of steel containers can block or interfere with these signals and make the systems impractical. This means most ports use transponder-based systems for AGV guidance. Furthermore, knowing where and which container needs to be moved, either by stacking cranes or by horizontal transport, requires the location of he containers within the terminal to be known at any time. This is most often achieved through sensors that enable the identification and management of each container, and allows for their quick retrieval.
Although based off of the same technology as stacking cranes, quay cranes have more complications in terms of automation, as they have to be able to compensate for the ship's movement in the water as they lift containers on and off the ship. The movement of the water will change the position of the container, which requires coordination with ship crews and stevedores. This is in part because the containers are held in place with twistlocks, which have to either be locked or unlocked by a stevedore or crew member. There are automated twistlocks, but they are not common.
Considered the next step in the automation of ports, away from robotic systems and semi-autonomous systems that require human operators to help the technologies work, Port 4.0 would be, similar to industry 4.0, the transformation of automation in port technologies towards the convergence of digital, physical, and biological technologies. This would include the digitalization of processes and intelligence platforms using artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to automate the communication and coordination between automated system; security and cyber-security, which implies the full automation of controls and processes; and would include environmental and energy sustainability to involve the search for alternative fuels to reduce carbon emissions.
In a Port 4.0 scenario, the flow of information would also move outside of the port and allow it to act as a node in the supply, energy, and information networks. Further, the concept of sincromodality appears in the port 4.0 model, which suggests stakeholders of the transport chain actively interact within a cooperative network to flexibly plan transport processes and be able to switch in real time between modes of transport. This operation would allow clients to determine the basic requirements of transport, such as the cost, duration, and sustainability of their shipments, which would imply a fundamental tool for logistics optimization.
Part of the digital transformation of ports includes the use of sensors as a fundamental technology in order to generate data about the port. Whether this data is processed by an automated software system or by a human operator dictates the next step to digital transformation. Once the platform is digitalized, this offers a further point of automation. This digital platform would be able to capture the information from the sensors, and with IoT networks, to process and display the data in an interoperable way, which would then be communicated with the robotic and automated systems to allow them to act together in real time.
IoT systems are the other enabling technologies that offers a port terminal to connect to each other and communicate amongst each other through the sharing of data. This can allow for the smooth operation of automated cranes, automated vehicles, automated containers, and remotely monitored rubber tired gantry cranes, closed-circuit television, optical character recognition, and other systems to address and resolve operations in real-time. The use of IoT would allow for the full automation and digitalization of a port and increase the overall efficiency of a port and allow for less idle time.
The terminal operating system (TOS) is the system that manages the movements of the automated systems, the movement of containers at cargo terminals, and the range of operations through the port terminal or inland terminal. These systems help terminal managers coordinate complex daily logistics involving the ships, trains, trucks, cranes, and types of cargo and port workers. These systems are also capable of integrating with other software used in logistics, such as ERP systems or accounting software, and can further increase the integration and automation of the back-end systems. Most of these products
- manage the movement of goods and containers at cargo terminals,
- optimize utilization of terminal equipment,
- plan and schedule the loading and unloading of vessels and vehicles,
- automate management of space in the container yard, and
- monitor operations of cargo terminals in real time.
