Container Terminal Operations: Systems and Equipment

Posted on Jan 8, 2025 in Business Administration and Innovation Management

Functional Areas of Terminal Operations

1.1. Operational Area: Between the quay wall and the container yard.

1.2. Container Yard: Stacking area.

1.3. Landside Operations: (Gate, parking, office buildings, container freight station, etc.)

The length of a container terminal depends on the planned number of berths, the length of the design vessel, and local restrictions.

Operation Systems

2.1. Determinants of Operations System Choice

The decision for an operations system depends on:

  • Size of vessels
  • Traffic forecast
  • Container volume in peak hours
  • Available land area
  • Cost structure
  • Geographic restrictions of the terminal area

The usual equipment to fulfill the tasks in the three mentioned functional areas are:

  1. Quay cranes at the vessel: STS Crane, conventional quay crane, mobile harbor crane.
  2. For container transfer horizontal transport: SC, reachstacker, terminal tractor with trailer, multi-trailer, empty/loaded container handler.
  3. For container transport and stacking within the yard: RTG and RMG crane, container handler, and overhead bridge crane.
  4. For landside operation: SC, RTG and RMG crane, reachstacker, TTU.
  5. Inland navigation vessel: STS crane, conventional quay crane, mobile harbor crane.

2.2. Reachstacker System with Tractor-Trailer Units (TTU)

Advantages:

  • Low investment and capital costs for reachstackers and TTUs.
  • Low operating costs of equipment in comparison to other operation systems.

Disadvantages:

  • Container transport between STS crane and yard area requires two handovers.
  • High manning requirements due to the large number of vehicles and low level of automation.
  • The TTUs can’t pick up or set down containers self-acting.
  • Disturbance of operation by trucks in the stacking area.

2.3. Straddle Carrier System

Advantages:

  • SC is able to cover all horizontal and vertical transport. SC operation systems are viable in combination with other equipment types.
  • The containers can be dropped on the ground; no time for handling equipment occurs. Enables STS cranes to operate with high productivity, using a low number of SCs per crane.
  • High number of concurrent container movements.
  • The breakdown of one SC has a comparatively low impact on the total handling process.
  • Compared to the systems with TTUs, the labor costs are lower.
  • No disturbance of the operations by trucks.
  • The system is flexible to changes based on operational requirements and terminal layouts.

Disadvantages:

  • High investment and capital costs for the SCs.
  • High maintenance and energy costs.
  • High labor costs compared to semi/automated transport and stacking systems.
  • SCs are not effective in far traveling distances; they are slower compared to TTUs and more costly.

2.4. Rubber-Tyred Gantry Crane (RTG) System with Tractor-Trailer Units

Advantages:

  • Low space requirements in the stacking area, high storage capacity in a small area. Containers can be stacked up to eight high, no traveling lanes.
  • High flexibility as the RTGs can be transported to other storage blocks.
  • Medium investment capital costs per piece of equipment.

Disadvantages:

  • Container transports between STS crane and yard area require two handover procedures.
  • Disturbance of TTU operations by trucks being also loaded/unloaded in the stacking area.

2.5. Rail-Mounted Gantry Crane System

Rail-Mounted Gantry Crane System with Tractor-Trailer Units (blocks parallel to quay)

Advantages:

  • RMGs stack higher and span wider, one over seven high and 12 containers wide.
  • The density of the yard is higher with RMG cranes and can exceed 1000 TEU per hectare.
  • More durable and reliable than RTGs.
  • Higher availability with moderate maintenance and repair costs.
  • Medium operating costs because of relatively low maintenance costs.
  • Easier to automate than RTGs.

Disadvantages:

  • More expensive to install due to required tracks.
  • High disturbance of terminal operation.
  • High investment and capital costs due to equipment and construction costs.
  • Rigid system in operation because of rail mountings and more difficult to change the layout in the yard.
Rail-Mounted Gantry Crane System with Automated Guided Vehicles or Shuttle Carriers

Advantages:

  • Low labor costs due to automation.
  • High system availability.
  • High productivity of horizontal transport.

Disadvantages:

  • High investment and capital costs.
  • Well-trained labor required.
  • Rigid system.