The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Malaysia has decided to retrofit all 67 of its rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) with Kalmar Industries’ Smartrail autosteering and container verification system.
PTP chief executive Datuk Mohd Sidik Osman said: “PTP handles the world’s largest container vessels, but current orders by lines are increasing today’s sizes and, as such, increasing pressure on terminals. With this system, PTP is able to ensure that the highest productivity standards will be met, thus enhancing the status of the port.”
According to Kalmar, Smartrail can be installed without disrupting operations. Kalmar has also installed Smartrail in Jebel Ali for Dubai Ports Authority (DPA). DPA retrofitted Smartrail to all of its RTGs plus six new machines.
With both Maersk Sealand and Evergreen having their regional Southeast Asian hubs in PTP, the Malaysian port has grown rapidly since it was officially opened in January 2000. With the completion of PTP Phase Two in July 2004, it will have a potential capacity of six million TEU per annum.
Smartrail uses Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) technology to steer the RTG along ‘invisible’ tracks, relieving the driver of the need to steer and allowing him to travel at maximum speed between lifts and to concentrate fully on picking up and setting down containers. An integrated Position Detection System (PDS) increases speed and efficiency by automatically logging the new position of a container after it has been placed in the stack or moved from one position to another.
Kalmar says that the Smartrail system is simple to install and maintain because there are no civil works such as buried wires, transponders or painted lines to be maintained.
It also works as a container position verification system: each time the spreader twistlocks are activated, the yard management system is automatically updated and the new position of the handled container is recorded. This provides significant improvements in operation quality and less time is spent looking for lost or misplaced containers, says Kalmar.
Apart from this recent retrofit work involving RTGs originally built by other manufacturers, the majority of all of the Kalmar RTGs which have been ordered over the past two years have been fitted or retrofitted with the Smartrail system. These include cranes delivered to terminals in New Jersey, Oslo, Dublin, La Spezia, Dunkirk, Livorno, Kumport and St Petersburg.
