The automated terminal is the future
automated terminal
When the container runs on the rail track, what changes will be realized? On June 29 this year, the completion ceremony of the world’s first intelligent aerial rail collection and distribution system (demonstration section) was held in Qingdao Port, Shandong Port. After that, containers “started” on the intelligent air rail of this automated terminal.
Unmanned operation, accurate docking of 8 port business forms, replacing manual card collection operations, energy saving, noise reduction, and zero pollution… The world’s first three-dimensional intelligent green air rail collection and distribution system integrating many labels was officially put into use, opening up container transportation. The “last mile” between ports, ships, stations, and yards will build a three-dimensional automated terminal that is safer, more efficient, environmentally friendly, and economical.
In 2019, Shandong Port learned about the container collection and distribution problem on the south bank of the Qianwan Port Area of Qingdao Port when conducting in-depth research on the front line. On November 28 of the same year, after the fully automated terminal (Phase II) of Shandong Port Qingdao Port was put into operation, the concept of an intelligent aerial rail collection and distribution system began to advance.
automated container terminal
In October 2020, the civil construction of the automated terminal officially started. After two months, the civil construction was completed at the end of December. At the same time, the assembly of steel structures, track beams, etc. will be carried out simultaneously. In April 2021, the steel structure will be present, and the equipment installation will be started. After all the installations are in place in early June, the equipment will be debugged. Until June 29, the world’s first intelligent aerial rail collection and distribution system (demonstration section) was officially completed. In 9 months, from the start of civil construction to the completion and start of the operation, the project team used systematic thinking and innovative ideas to design, research and develop, construct and optimize, and finally completed the entire demonstration section and entered the commissioning stage.
From plane to three-dimensional, build a smart green automated terminal.
The demonstration project has a total length of 620 meters. It starts from the north side of the automation terminal exchange center and the west end of the AGV operation area, and ends at the R09 yard of QQCTU, connecting the Qingdao Port Automation Terminal and the Container Terminal. It can be transported by air rail.
After preliminary calculations, the intelligent air-rail collection and distribution mode is about 30% more efficient than manual collection and transportation. In addition to high work efficiency, the biggest advantage of the intelligent air-rail collection and distribution system is the introduction of the intelligent air-rail supervision system that integrates the customs supervision scheme of the port’s new collection mode. Different from the operation mode of using trucks to transport containers to the fixed customs supervision area, the empty rail supervision system is similar to the working mode of subway entry inspection. U-shaped testing equipment, on the premise of not increasing the customer’s container inspection cost and the normal operation of the goods, has realized the full coverage of the imported container inspection rate from 6%-7% of the traditional sampling inspection to the current 100%, and the time efficiency has increased from the original. 3-4 hours compressed into a dozen seconds.
In addition, the intelligent air-rail collection and distribution system is safer than manual card collection. The safety performance of manual card collection is subject to various factors such as drivers, weather, and road surfaces. Rail transit has achieved fully automated control and has higher safety performance. From the perspective of carbon emissions, compared with the status quo of heavy-duty truck diesel engines, empty rail operations are all-electric, pollution-free, and low-noise, and preliminary estimates cost savings of at least 40%.
So far, the construction of the automated terminal has made the port traffic start a revolutionary breakthrough and upgrade from a single plane to a three-dimensional interconnection. While exploring more development prospects in the three-dimensional space, it also freed up a broader space for urban development.
The traditional port collection and distribution system involves the construction of roads and railways, which requires a large investment and a long construction period. Taking the container terminal on the south bank of Qingdao Port in Shandong Port as an example, the railway construction land needs to be requisitioned, and the estimated cost is about 8 billion yuan. The huge construction cost has caused the project to be delayed for many years. The intelligent air-rail system can effectively “break the situation”, the floor area is only 30% of the road construction, the construction cost is more than 50% lower than the original railway plan, and it can effectively avoid the reduction of the port evacuation efficiency caused by the entry of the railway and the highway construction. The problems of urban traffic congestion and road safety caused by transport vehicles.
In the future construction of automated terminals, the ground transportation of the port may be replaced by air transportation, forming a huge transportation network in the air, connecting all nodes such as container terminals, customs inspection areas, and railway port stations on the north bank in series, releasing greater opportunities for the city. Expansion capacity.
