Aug 13 2010
South Korean Hanjin Group’s Container terminal operator, Total Terminal International (TTI) Algeciras, in the Port of Algeciras in Spain, has installed IDENTEC SOLUTIONS’ Real Time Locating System (RTLS), to track and manage the containers in the depot.
TTI Algeciras is a unique, partially automatic depot in Spain and was constructed with an objective, to manage the current and the futuristic necessities of container ships. IDENTEC SOLUTIONS (manufacturer of quay crane RTLS and TPM solutions, process automation solutions for gate access, reefer monitoring for marine terminals and automated job promotion), in a joint venture with Europe’s HTSE (Hi-Tech Solutions), have used GPS based tools and active RFID, in a quay crane RTLS and a TPM (Transfer Point Management) system, inside areas handling automated storage. The deployment process was initiated in 2009 November and began operating from May 2010.
According to Oscar Pernia, TTI Algeciras’ Process Systems and Innovation Team Leader, TTI was built to hold 1.6 million TEV’S and that IDENTEC’s RTLS was crucial to the terminal’s successful operations.
IDENTEC’s CEO, Gerhard Schedler, disclosed that the amalgamation of RTLS equipment with Hi Tech’s OCR (Optical Container Recognition) system will revise to a great extent, the waterside process management by intermodal and container terminals. According to him, the RTLS was explicitly designed for operations such as straddle and terminal tractor at STS cranes, where normally GPS tracking fails.
The RTLS solution blends with active RFID to locate the exact position of the shuttle vehicles no fewer than 8 STS cranes and then matches them to the container Id provided by HI-Tech’s OCR system, preset on the cranes. As soon as the shuttle departs from the crane, tracking takes place and unremitting monitoring of these containers are easily possible. The tracking data is then forwarded to the RMG (Rail Mounted Gantries) control system, to make sure that it is safe for the operators, especially during the period of hand-offs, and also to furnish total container transition traceability.