Cargo Business Techwire

Friday, September 5, 2014

Long Beach terminal operator ITS chooses APS crane OCR technology

International Transportation Service (ITS) has chosen a crane OCR solution from APS Technology Group for its terminal at the Port of Long Beach, according to a statement from APS parent company ABB Group.

The APS Crane OCR system automates the process of identifying and verifying ISO containers loaded and discharged from dockside Ship-to-Shore gantry cranes with high accuracy, redundancy and reliability, said ABB. The system will be fully supported by APS' remote monitoring systems and support staff located in San Diego, California.

"We recognized the need to update our OCR technology because the previous vendor's existing solution was difficult to support and system accuracy was below acceptable levels by today's standards," stated Ken Southerland, director of the Operation IT department for ITS. "We were looking for a reliable solution that would improve our system accuracy and efficiency, and we expect APS to deliver a quick and efficient, top of the line OCR system."

ABB says the automated container solution at the ITS Long Beach Pier G terminal will consist of 12 STS Crane OCR systems and X-Clerk Exception Management solution. The installation will start in September and is expected to be operational by early 2015.

ITS, a subsidiary of Japan's "K" Line, is one of Long Beach's longest continuous tenants, having opened its terminal in 1972. ITS was the maritime industry's first terminal to introduce on-dock double-stack train operations, according to the statement.

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