Container terminals seek automation on the path of the automobile industry
Automation is a process that is reaching all sectors of the industry with different approaches, sometimes reusable. In this situation you can see the container terminal sector that a viable model contemplates in the automotive industry to apply for the automation of its own vehicles. An automation that will significantly increase control levels and security standards throughout the logistics process.
Today the development of smart machinery has experienced an incredible leap. Despite this technological availability, the presence of these tools in the market is still quite limited. And while automated terminals already incorporate technological solutions for navigation, container management equipment are still centralized controlled.
Automation without reinventing the wheel
The automotive sector is living a sweet era in terms of innovation, especially in the hands of autonomous vehicles, a technology that announces a safer future on our roads and that has experienced a vertiginous growth in a few years, with resultsMore than promising.
However. It is expected that still many edges are left to polish until the autonomous driving of private vehicles is a reality on our roads and these vehicles go to the market.
While that happens, the Kalmar load management solutions manufacturer has put on the table the applications that these advances can be for container terminals. And, instead of being necessary to design a technology from scratch or using very expensive components, part of these automotive solutions could be adapted and reused for industrial solutions specialized in the port environment.
Different models with usable synergies
With the basic technology of the autonomous car already designed, the greatest challenge of engineers and manufacturers lies in the safety of operations in an open and changing environment. We talk about variables such as traffic regulation, regulations of each country, weather conditions and road infrastructure. Decision making, at least for the moment it will centralize a single vehicle. That is, that each vehicle is controlled from the vehicle itself, something viable since we talk about a piloted vehicle.
When comparing this reality with that of container terminals we find points in common and in discord. To start automated container terminals, they have been used for more than two decades for sure. Naturally, it operates in a much more closed and controlled environment, which makes it easier to install a specialized infrastructure.
In this case, decision -making can centralize in different points outside the vehicle itself, since it would not be piloted. These points can be the central software of the terminal or a machine control zone. Similarly, this application of vehicle automation for industrial use requires very different security requirements.
Container terminals are heading towards a totally automated system, but with certain limits since at least in the closest future, remote control or remote control operations will remain necessary.
The future of automation: AI and digitalization
Artificial intelligence is currently the most hopeful growth field for autonomous driving. So that the improvement of these systems and their increasingly wide availability in both vehicles and in the cloud are expected to open new options also for automated solutions in container terminals.
On the other hand, it is estimated that the automation that can be extrapolated from one sector to another reduces in a transparent and digitized logistics chain, a very desired objective in the transport industry. The biggest challenge lies in learning to adapt and customize these developments designed for the end user, to the port environment.
Therefore, the technological models of the autonomous car and the port terminals have peculiarities, but also with usable common points. The rapid development of the automotive model for a mass market is an opportunity for suppliers of industrial automation systems and with them, also for application to container terminals.
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