Features

High Tech Pacific Ports

By Fred McCague

Technology is a big part of today’s Pacific ports — from hybrid RTGs to new software applications. Below are just samples of the technological revolution of containerization that’s been taking place ever since the first containers sailed.

Bigger ships

In the Pacific, the most notable change, though still in its infancy, was the introduction of 53-ft. containers into regular international trade by APL in November 2007.

APL pioneered the now standard domestic 53-footers back in 1989, but the new “Ocean53” are a stronger design for the rigors of deep-sea service, with its movement and high stacks.

APL spokesman Mike Zampa said the Ocean53 service continues to develop and says the line is now studying incorporating a provision for 53-footers in its newbuildings.

High-capacity cranes

In April, BNSF added four electric Konecranes rail-mounted gantries to the Seattle Intermodal Gateway yard.

“The installation of these wide-span cranes has nearly doubled the capacity at our SIG facility and reduces our impact on the environment while supporting the growth of international commerce at the Port of Seattle,” says Mike Burke, assistant vice president, BNSF intermodal hub operations.

These cranes are significantly wider than the traditional cranes used at intermodal facilities, spanning three tracks, and have the capability to stack containers and load and unload trucks and railcars. Along with providing additional capacity, these cranes have increased throughput by about 30% at BNSF’s SIG facility.

After four months of service, BNSF Director of Public Affairs Gus Melonas says the RMGs are “extremely successful.” He notes the neighbors were happy with the quiet operation of the cranes and added that they were very efficient.

Hybrid RTGs

On the Pacific Coast, RTGs remain the standard container yard feature for most grounded operations. And hybrid RTGs are the way of the future.
In Los Angeles/Long Beach, the key new feature is Vycon’s flywheels. Installation requires a one- to two-day retrofit.

Octavio Solis, Vycon technical sales manager, explains that the system works by capturing the braking power used when a container is lowered, normally dumped through resistors. The unit “ties into the DC bus before the resistor” and spins up the flywheel. When the RTG is hoisting, the flywheel dumps electrical power back into the system “much faster than the gen set” and he notes the flywheel takes just “12 to 13 seconds to discharge.” This reduces the peak load, with resultant fuel and emissions savings.

According to Solis, his company has about a dozen in service in Los Angeles and Long Beach and four at Yantain. Four for Malaysia are being installed on new equipment at the ZPMC factory in Shanghai. He says the larger benefit will come on new equipment through marrying the flywheels with smaller diesel generators.

TSI in Vancouver has linked up with Railpower to develop RTGs at Deltaport to replace large diesel gen sets with Railpower’s unique use of very small diesels and battery power, initially developed for yard locomotives. The system takes advantage of the idle time of equipment to keep the batteries charged. The first two units have shown a remarkable 70% fuel saving. A third RTG is now being converted.

At the yard

Yard equipment is also more technologically advanced. For example, APL has developed liquefied natural gas yard tractors and other equipment.
Over the road truckers, serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, are introducing new LNG-powered rigs that reduce NOx by 50% and particulates by 80%. Cleanair Logix has just ordered nine LNG-fueled trucks from Kenworth/Westport trucks for use in Oakland. And Balqon Industries has developed electric yard tractors.

Top-notch terminal systems

High tech is hitting the Pacific port terminal systems as well. In March, TSI went live with an integrated Navis system for gate, rail, yard and ship operations. The system replaced an in-house legacy system that had reached its limits. The company is now planning a similar conversion of its Vanterm operation. Navis also has won a contract for conversion of Matson’s Honolulu terminal, again to replace an older in-house system with SPARCS.

Tideworks Technologies has also been very active. Spun off from SSA in 2002, Michael Schwank, president of Tideworks, says, “Fifty percent of our business is now third-party.” The main products are the “Mainsail” terminal operating system and “Spinnaker” for ship and yard planning.

Tideworks just introduced “Digital Bridge,” a “real time dashboard” for management that permits minute-by-minute monitoring of key elements, with alerts set for potential problem areas. Schwank notes that, for example, truck turnaround time can be set to a level and trigger an alert if the level is exceeded, permitting managers and supervisors to react immediately if problems are appearing. The software is already in use at Terminal 18 in Seattle as well as at terminals in Long Beach and Panama.
A unique product of Tideworks is its “Genoa” breakbulk management system, which Schwank terms “not as glamorous.” It is used by breakbulk, forest products and ro/ro terminal operators.

The software of both Navis and Tideworks is fully integrated with the products of partner companies providing OCR (optical character recognition), RFID (radio frequency identification) and differential GPS systems. This linkage makes automation in the terminals possible.

Saving costs in the future

Gordon Payne of Seaports Consultants says, “It is important to reduce costs.” His company’s studies have noted that a highly automated terminal such as APM in Portsmouth “is going to save about $60 per container.”

He says he expects West Coast terminals will face increased competition from all-water service to the Gulf and East Coasts when the new, enlarged Panama Canal enters service, and he points out that all new containerships except the Emma Maersk–class will fit through the new locks.

Payne does point out that West Coast terminals are making excellent progress in automated gates and points to Terminal 18 in Seattle and Evergreen’s Pierce County Terminal in Tacoma as examples.

Technology will continue to evolve and develop as Pacific ports continue to develop and grow.