Containers in automated ports. PSA International and DCT will lead Baltic ports on a new course?

Container terminals are worth automating. The return on investment in the automation of container handling is approximately 5 years. This is the result of scientific research of 63 container ports carried out by scientists from the universities of California, Ghent and Antwerp and Piraeus.

Only 3% of container terminals in the world are fully [automated – MG] or semi-automatic, inform Geraldine Knatz (University of Southern California), Theo Notteboom (Ghent University, University of Antwerp, Antwerp Maritime Academy) and Athanasios A. Pallis (University of Piraeus) in the extensive study “Container terminal automation: revealing distinctive terminal characteristics and operating parameters”.

Leading operators are at the fore in the automation of container terminals. Automated terminals are managed by the largest global terminal operators, such as: China COSCO Shipping Ports, PSA International, APM Terminals, Hutchison Ports, D.P. World and Terminal Investment Limited and ICTSI, which the authors do not mention.

The leading innovators are in Poland.

In Poland, transhipments at container terminals are systematically growing. DCT Gdańsk announces that the next T3 at the port will be automated. So PSA and DCT Gdańsk has a chance to pave the way for the automation of container handling in the Baltic Sea.

More: Marek Grzybowski: Containers in automated ports