Automizing the manual link in maritime supply chains? An analysis of twistlock handling automation in container terminals

Kugler, Michael; Brandenburg, Marcus; Limant, Sander

doi:10.1016/j.martra.2021.100017

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Finally, overall productivity is affected by other factors, such as lashing, that still has to be done manually. For example, as Kugler et al studied, it is not clear whether automating the twistlock handling could yield faster handling rates; the main barriers are currently technological ( 40 ). In view of all these examples, container operations still need the flexibility manned operations have.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Reality on Automated Container Terminals: What Can Be Expected from Future Technological Developments?

Majoral

Reyes

Saurí

2023

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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Automating container terminals is a consolidated trend in the port sector that is expected to grow. The main drivers for this growth are improving efficiency, reducing operating costs, remedying labor shortages, and increasing productivity. However, in practice there is no clear evidence confirming that automated terminals outperform conventional ones in handling productivity rates, cycle times, or vessel berthing times. Both the academic corpus and industry data show mixed results. Based on that, the goal of this article is to research productivity rates and factors affecting productivity, and understand to what extent future technological developments can enhance automated terminals. To do so, several sources of information are used and analyzed to shed light on the real productivity performance. The main conclusion gives no strong evidence linking automation with greater productivity, even though it might reduce terminal operators’ costs. In fact, in many instances, productivity is worse. Moreover, currently, semi-automated terminals are still preferred to fully automated terminals because of better handling times. However, it is expected that future technological developments will likely overcome the current issues faced by automated terminals, when a technological paradigm shift takes places.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Reality on Automated Container Terminals: What Can Be Expected from Future Technological Developments?

Majoral

Reyes

Saurí

2023

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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“…A sufficient number of twist locks are stowed in gearbox containers aboard the ship. In addition, containers on deck are secured with lashing bars, while the cargo holds below deck are fitted with cell guides on the walls of a container ship that secure the containers against slippage (Kugler, Brandenburg and Limant, 2021).…”

Section: Lashingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since both trolleys operate independently from each other and from the twist-lock handling process, the twist locks can be inserted on or removed from the lashing platform independently of the trolley movement. Thus, the lashing platform eliminates the process of holding the container above the ground (Kugler, Brandenburg and Limant, 2021). The main trolley is manned, with the operator performing the set-down or pick-up on the ship.…”

Section: Twist-lock Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most dangerous parts of the container handling process relates to lashing on board ships and twist-lock handling at the quay. Dual trolley quay cranes -as implemented at Hamburg's Altenwerder terminal -have a lashing platform that makes twist-lock handling considerably safer (Kugler, Brandenburg and Limant, 2021). Yet, this has rarely been introduced in other container ports.…”

Section: Safety and Labour Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Container Port Automation

2021

International Transport Forum Policy Papers

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“…Other researchers analyse the sway patterns and the dynamics of the movements of the crane, its spreader mechanisms and the container maneuvering [13,14]. Here, Andersen and Jenses [15] investigated full-scale measurements of the wave-induced vertical bending moment amidship a large container carrier, and focuses on the effect of the hydro-elastic high-frequency vibration on the extreme hogging wave bending moment, and Szyszko [16] investigated the phenomenology of problems of cell guides container ships wear processes, taking into account the tribological and non-tribological types of wear processes in the carriage by sea and in the process of containers handling at the maritime port [17]. There were also other attempts to dampen the sway of the spreader, either by means of stabilisation mechanisms pulling the lines, or the mathematical modeling techniques addressing the physical nature of the dynamical process [18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Evaluation of the Impacts Detection Methodology (IDM) to Detect Critical Damage Occurrences during Quay Cranes Handling Operations

et al. 2023

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During various marine container handling operations, performed mainly in larger-scale container terminals, containers get damaged regularly. Our previous studies showed that each physical impact results in some form of physical deformation of the backbone structure. Even at low accelerations, the spreaders of the quay cranes impact the containers with enough force to substantially bend the metal parts of the corners of the containers, when additional hooking procedures are required. This means that the first time resulted in the metal rods hitting the metal frame with an average 15-ton mass at the average speed of 1.7 m/s. The metal rods of the hooking mechanisms’ impact areas of the containers are structurally important, and each impact surely damages the containers, diminishing their total operational time. We have already proposed the Impacts Detection Methodology (IDM) and its application system, tested in Klaipeda City port, and it proved to be efficient in real-time operations, detecting concurrent impacts with each new handling cycle. In this paper, we provide a summarisation of a larger number of detections using the IDM, and as a result of this analysis, we have detected that more impact events happen when containers are taken from the upper parts of the ship, in comparison to the ones taken from the shafts. Results suggest that more critical events occur due to operator actions and experiences working with the machinery, yet the same operators tend to make fewer impact mistakes taking the containers from the shafts as the vertical cell guides tend to direct the movements and lower the levels of the natural sway of the spreader inside closed environments. This surely damages the metal infrastructure of the shafts, as seen in our previous study, but minimizes the chances of secondary impacts occurring during hooking.

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Automizing the manual link in maritime supply chains? An analysis of twistlock handling automation in container terminals

Cited by 10 publications

References 42 publications

Lessons from Reality on Automated Container Terminals: What Can Be Expected from Future Technological Developments?

Lessons from Reality on Automated Container Terminals: What Can Be Expected from Future Technological Developments?

Container Port Automation

Statistical Evaluation of the Impacts Detection Methodology (IDM) to Detect Critical Damage Occurrences during Quay Cranes Handling Operations

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