Port of the Future — Dense and Automated

In September, at Cargo Business News’ Southwest Intermodal conference, we asked industry leaders to tell us how they envisioned tomorrow’s ports.

Javier Itriago, principal development engineer for Ports America, painted a detailed (and what his company feels is realistic) picture of our future. Not only can we expect denser, more automated ports, we can also expect them to arrive sooner than we think.

Volume Delayed but Coming

Almost every speaker at the conference pointed out that Asia is continuing to build capacity, and America can expect to see a significant increase in container volumes by 2020 — although exactly how much is hard to forecast with the current economic conditions. Even the most conservative estimates predict substantial volume growth, and the U.S. will need to respond with better and greener ports.

Itriago predicts that by 2020, “the land utilization that we’ll need in Long Beach and Los Angeles [will be over] 12,000 TEUs per acre per year. In terms of berth use, we’re going to be needing 800-900 TEUs per berth.”

With current technology, Javier says that 12,000 TEUs per gross acre per year and the corresponding 800 TEUs per berth are basically impossible. He estimates that the maximum today is more like 8-10,000 TEUs per gross acre per year.

Better Land Utilization Through Technology

The answer, Itriago says, is to better employ technologies to improve our land utilization. In short — automation is the way of the future.

“The beauty of automation is that it also allows better visibility for your cargo and faster velocities in the terminal, which increases profit and customer service,” he says.

Some may argue that automation is too expensive, and dwell times will be the answer. Itriago says they see automation as the true solution, as minimizing dwell times will only put off the inevitable. “Even if we reduce the dwell time [by] one day, that only gives us two, three, or four years of slack in our capacities. It can help, but it’s not the answer.”

Another reason he and Ports America foresee more automation is because of the growing need to become green. He said that ports have different pressures today, not just to build capacity, but to also create greener ports. Denser, more automated ports would offer a solution.

More Automation

To increase density at the yards, he foresees a lot more use of automated stacking crane technology. And he predicts that the movement of containers inside the terminals will be with automated, guided vehicles, and interfaces between man and machine will decline.

“What we see is that most of the container movement decision inside the yard [will be] made by artificial intelligence. That’s going to improve the velocity. You’re going to know where the container is and where to move it next,” says Itriago.

Ports America also predicts that all container equipment will either need to be electrically powered or at the very least a hybrid. “And the electricity will need to come from renewable sources,” says Itriago. “There’s no point in plugging into a grid that is supplied by a coal plant further down the road — that’s not really the answer.”

Blue Sky Prediction

So what will the port of 2020 look like? Ports America believes they will be denser, more automated, and greener.

“Densification leads to automation; automation leads to a greening of the environment, and all this translates into lower cost and greater revenue for our investors,” says Itriago. “This is what we call the triple bottom line — being socially responsible, being environmentally responsible, and being responsible to our shareholders and investors.”