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175,000 TEU per year with 24-hour a day operation - fully intermodal, handling cargo from Rotterdam, Cherbourg and Zeebrugge. Autostore has cut costs, enhanced profitability and improved throughput for Port of Waterford.
The Port of Waterford, situated on the south eastern coast of Ireland is the nearest major deep water, multi-purpose Irish port to mainland Europe. It is Ireland's fastest growing port facility operating a 24-hour, 7 day a week, all year round service; also home to the world-famous Waterford Crystal, the city of Waterford is Ireland's fifth and oldest city. Historically, Waterford has dominated the southern Irish sea routes to the UK: it has experienced significant growth in trade to and from mainland Europe since Ireland joined the EU and has become the principal shipping centre in Ireland for continental traffic. Port of Waterford consists of Belview Terminal. It is a fully serviced container terminal, a bulk handling facility, a dedicated cement importation facility and has a Ro-Ro facility in planning.
With two thirds of the Republic's population living within a 100-mile radius of Waterford, the port handles Lo-Lo (lift on, lift off) cargo, bulk liquid, bulk solid, break-bulk and general cargoes. Around 1,000 vessels call at the port annually, carrying nearly 3 million tonnes of cargo. The container terminal handles around 86,000 containers or 175,000 TEUs every year - plus an average of 20 cruise liners.
Port of Waterford - through its intermodal subsidiary Waterford Container Terminal (WCT) - relies on a resilient, proven and innovative technology infrastructure to maintain efficiency and grow TEU throughput. This infrastructure is provided by Autostore, the UK's leading container terminal management system (CTMS), controlling every aspect of the Belview facility to strengthen its position as one of the Ireland's leading ports.
Substantial facilities ...
Waterford Container Terminal (WCT) was built in 1993 at a cost of £25 million: it's an advanced, fully intermodal port that receives, holds and despatches a wide range of container types and cargoes for import and export by sea, road and rail. With the majority of its trade shared between Rotterdam, Cherbourg and Zeebrugge, WCT has 450 metres of wharfage that can handle three container ships at any one time.
Fully loaded, each container weighs around 35 tonnes and measures 45 feet long by eight wide and nine tall - a total of 1,280 cubic feet of freight space called a twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU). WCT operates 2 gantry cranes that perform the primary functions of managing the main container stack and performing all ship-to-shore/shore-to-ship transfers - plus the normal lorry and rail loading/unloading procedures. In addition, WCT uses a reach truck for all non-mainstream container and some main container stack movements: separate in-gates and out-gates control all road transfers. Two rail freight tracks bisect the facility, enabling train transfers to be made right on the dockside itself.
Responding to the challenge ...
A central commercial pressure facing WCT - and the container industry at large - is how to maintain an international competitive edge that delivers both growth and profits. Like other European facilities, WCT needs to increase cargo throughput and maximise space utilisation in an environmentally sympathetic way that makes the most of finite expansion space. There's a constant pressure to drive down costs, improve forecasting, maintain and develop margins and manage labour efficiently within the parameters of the EU Time Directive. In addition, there are the wider intermodal transshipment issues driven by increasing pressures on the regional and national transport networks - all within the context of global deregulation and a constantly changing regulatory framework.
WCT spokesman:
"Dealing with the cost, efficiency and throughput issues is largely underpinned by technology - and more importantly, the way we apply itand how we use the information it generates," says a WCT representative. "Modern container management demands an IT infrastructure that can control a facility from top to bottom - securely and in real-time - all within a framework that delivers critical management information when and how we want it."
That technology foundation for WCT's end-to-end container management is provided by Autostore, developed and installed by Central Systems & Automation - a leading supplier of integration services and packaged solutions to the port management and logistics industries.
Building a future-proofed infrastructure ...
Autostore optimises the day-to-day management of WCT by allocating and co-ordinating all container movement instructions in real-time. Using WCT's own operational parameters, Autostore automatically determines the optimal storage and loading positions for all containers from the moment they enter the terminal until they leave - whether by road, rail or sea.
WCT spokesman:
"Networked for administration and operational use, Autostore runs on a Windows server with an SQL Server database and is accessed through standard Microsoft Windows terminals for familiarity and ease-of-use. The main server is mirrored for failsafe back-up using a dedicated and secure fibre optic connection and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) protect the system from any main grid power failures. An additional wireless LAN using radio data terminals (RDT) connects the reach truck and gantry cranes to Autostore and we have a remote access software link with the Central Systems team in the UK."In addition, we have a number of configured interfaces so we can share load/discharge lists with our shipping clients and all systems areprotected by PIN identification to ensure that only authorised operators can make container movements: an important security feature that makes sure we can protect cargo - particularly the high value loads."
The WCT application also features the Autostore Position Determination System (PDS) that lets the driver know the exact position of the crane and container relative to the stack. Each PDS connects to the gantry cranes own control system and combines positional information with twist-lock status to map the information and provide the driver, via the RDT, with crane and container position. The PDS also feeds this information back to the CTMS thus ensuring that the right container makes the right move to right part of the stack every time - accurately and safely.
Achieving balance ...
Stripping or loading the entire payload of a ship at berth is relatively straightforward - the hard part is the partial stripping or loading of cargo. Autostore cross-checks the intended loading/stripping sequence to make sure it matches the sequence as detailed in the manifest. Once the ship is berthed, the pre-programmed container movements can then begin.
WCT has separate in-gate and out-gates through which rail and road deliveries and despatches are controlled. Coming in, containers are transferred from the wagons by either the reach truck or the gantry cranes to the right storage location in the container stack. RDTs in the mechanical handling equipment (MHE) cabins display container movement instructions, received from the Autostore. The operator then makes the movement instructed and confirms it: Autostore rejects the movement made unless it matches the move already specified.
At the out-gate, Autostore holds the identity numbers of the containers for collection plus a unique and confidential four digit PIN issued by the shipping agent. These numbers are checked off against Autostore's daily release manifest: Autostore then instructs the crane or reach truck to pick the right container from the stack and load the wagon or train. Before the crane can unlock the container onto the receiving wagon, Autostore again checks the container ID against that listed on the work schedule. When the IDs are confirmed, the crane unlocks itself from the container and the wagon or train departs, to be checked one last time at the out-gate.
Feeling the benefits ...
What are the bottom line benefits? The move to Autostore from a more traditional approach to container management has proved a profitable one. WCT now has a complete, real-time picture of the terminal in clear, colour-coded graphics: the system is easy to use at all levels and because it connects all elements of the container terminal, the WCT team can re-configure activity 'on-the-fly' very quickly as operational needs change. This makes WCT more responsive to the market at large as well as to the individual requirements of its customers.
WCT spokesman:
"We have optimised all our container positioning to increase throughput, make better use of our available space and minimise secondary handing. We have a more accurate picture of our cargo position and Autostore's extensive security functions have eliminated human error. Most importantly from a business perspective is that the quality and speed of our management information is now vastly improved - now we can better dissect the terminal's performance which has led to improved cost control, tighter pricing and improved profitability."