The Forum on the Development of Container Port Automation Transformation Technology was held in Tianjin

On May 12, the 2023 Container Port Automation Transformation Technology Development Forum was held in Tianjin.

The forum focused on topics such as intelligence, efficiency, safety, reliability and project cycle, discussed the technical path and system scheme of terminal automation transformation, and observed the operation of 14 four-rope tire cranes after the automation upgrade of Tianjin Port Pacific Container Terminal, aiming to explore the Chinese plan that can be replicated and promoted from traditional terminals to smart ports through in-depth exchanges.

The forum was co-sponsored by the Container Branch of China Port Association and Tianjin Port Group, co-organized by Sany Marine Heavy Industry, and presided over by Zhang Ruxing, Secretary-General of Container Branch of China Port Association.

For a long time, the long production cycle, low degree of automation, and low system efficiency have been the pain points of tire crane automation transformation. As one of the organizers, Yang Jiemin, vice president of Tianjin Port Group, pointed out that the construction of domestic automated terminals has exceeded the speed of foreign countries, but there are greater challenges in the automation transformation of yards.

Wu Qiang, vice president of Tianjin Port Co., Ltd., believes that the current technical scheme of four-rope tire crane transformation still needs to be further optimized, and it is necessary to solve the system problem of efficiency through multi-party cooperation, and at the same time start to formulate efficiency acceptance standards for the port industry.

Huang Liheng, consultant of Yantian Donggang, hopes that OEMs will consider more from the perspective of users in the design and implementation stage of the renovation, how to achieve greater benefits with the minimum civil construction and equipment costs, such as redundancy and safety, and how to reduce the number of equipment sensors to ensure safety while reducing the operation and maintenance costs of the terminal.

Chen Wenjun of Ningbo Meidong Container Terminal Co., Ltd. pointed out that the construction of smart ports is an inevitable trend in the market. At the meeting, he focused on sharing the experience summary of information technology application coordination and production conflicts, improving the new infrastructure of the port area to promote vehicle-road coordination technology, and the digital and intelligent transformation of the terminal based on the case of Meidong Wharf.

Zhou Jianyong of Ningbo Beilun First Container Terminal Co., Ltd. suggested that industry associations should formulate standards for efficiency definition and calculation methods.

Wu Jialun of Hong Kong International Container Terminals Co., Ltd. shared from the maintenance of automation equipment, and believed that the difficulty and long cycle of maintenance in the later stage are the pain points that the industry needs to solve urgently.

At the seminar, the technical experts of each port shared the planning and challenges of automation based on their own business reality and the current situation of the terminal, and reached a consensus on the urgency of remote scheduling and operation standard formulation in the port industry, the definition of efficiency standards, the pressure of automation equipment maintenance, and the demand for wireless communication.

It is precisely because of the technical difficulty that Tianjin Port Group has decided to jointly develop with Sany Marine Heavy Industry in the Pacific Container Terminal, and has successfully launched the HI-MOVE intelligent four-rope automation solution. At this forum, the technical leader of the project said that the HI-MOVE solution has successfully broken through the key technical difficulties such as safety, efficiency, intelligence and batch delivery, and solved the problems of four-rope anti-sway and anti-torsion, high-precision pick-and-place box identification, and intelligent scheduling of yard tasks.

HI-MOVE▪ is highly efficient

In view of the efficiency problem after the automation transformation of the traditional four-rope tire crane, the HI-MOVE solution integrates the Sany SCC operation control framework to achieve super operation control coverage, and the self-developed automatic deviation correction system of the large vehicle has a horizontal and longitudinal accuracy better than ±30mm. Based on laser point cloud + AI image technology, it realizes the fully automatic pick-and-place box of the yard and the internal container truck, and the remote semi-automatic operation of the external container truck.

Since the start of automated production operations on September 1, 2022, the 14 RTG automation transformation projects of Tianjin Port Pacific Terminal have completed more than 300,000 TEUs of operations, with a container transfer efficiency of 28 move/h and a comprehensive operation efficiency of 18 move/h.

HI-MOVE▪ is highly reliable

The HI-MOVE solution integrates more than 30 types of safety early warning systems, realizes all-round 360-degree coverage of lanes, box areas and equipment, multi-level and multi-scale deviation correction and protection measures, and ensures that the tire crane offset is ≤ 35mm and the positioning accuracy is ≤± 30mm when running a large car at full speed.

HI-MOVE▪ is highly intelligent

The HI-MOVE solution integrates the Sany SSS intelligent framework, based on ergonomic design, and adopts a variety of intelligent technologies such as automatic capacity analysis, man-machine ratio analysis, and intelligent car changing/box changing to achieve a simple and comfortable operation experience. The 1:4 man-machine ratio and the video latency time of less than 200 milliseconds allow intelligent technology to help users improve efficiency and reduce the error rate.

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HI-MOVE▪ fast delivery

According to reports, the 14 RTG automation transformation project of Tianjin Port Pacific Container Terminal will complete all the transformation and commissioning work from October 15, 2021 to August 31, 2022, and start automated and normalized production operations, which lasted 9.5 months.

It is reported that the transformation of 14 pieces of equipment has been carried out in batches, and the first batch of 7 pieces of equipment will be transformed on October 15, 2021, and the production trial operation will be carried out on April 30, 22, which lasted 6.5 months. After the technical verification was successful, the second batch of 3 pieces of equipment was shut down for transformation from May 30, 22 to July 15, 22. On the same day, the last batch of 4 pieces of equipment also started shutdown and transformation, and was delivered on August 31. The last two batches of equipment renovation lasted 1.5 months each.

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Starting from the difficulties and pain points of the upgrading and transformation of traditional container terminals, the HI-MOVE intelligent four-rope automation solution has created a "Chinese path" that can be implemented and replicated, which is believed to provide stronger impetus for China's construction of a world-class smart port.