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Kalmar sees greater port automation ahead

Kalmar sees greater port automation ahead
Automation, optimisation and digitisation are going to be the new buzz words in the port sector, Kalmar Asia Pacific senior vice-president Peter McLean told Seatrade Maritime News.

Speaking on the side lines of the launch of their new value-based Essential range of mobile equipment, he noted however that there are still challenges ahead and resistance to change is key among the road blocks to the automation trend.

While the potential range of port operations that can be automated is vast, there has still been a reluctance to accept it from some segments of the industry for various reasons.

“We predicted three or four years ago that it would be a quicker uptake than it was and we’ve been quite surprised how slow it’s been, but the interest and the meetings are continuing and people are planning and working on it but it’s a matter of when they actually move,” McLean lamented.

“But we’re seeing more and more of it; it will slowly but surely come in, there’s no doubt,” he added. “Every year globally there would have to be 10 or 20 ports doing something in the way of automation at least and half of those are quite big projects,” McLean ventured without going into specifics about whether the timeline would change.

Other trends he predicted include cost pressure forcing greater use of automation to optimise operations as well as the use of more hybrid vehicles to promote more sustainable operations in addition to cutting costs.

He predicted however that there will be few, if any, more fully automated port projects being built from scratch such as Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT) in Melbourne.

“People want to do it but I think there are some misconceptions,” he cautioned. It’s not a matter of simply contracting somebody to just build an automated terminal and then pushing a button and expecting everything to happen from the get-go, McLean said.

“They debate the success of automation so far and want to do bits of it to phase it in, and that’s not a silly idea,” he said. “When you don’t have any automation to start with, it’s not a bad idea to do it in phases a bit at a time and develop your staff along with it,” he said.

“You need a whole different skill set to run the port,” he said, pointing out that integration of software and back-end systems is just as important as getting new equipment.

But this is where some of the issues arise. Many of the larger port operators such as PSA and Hutchison Port Holdings have their own proprietary and legacy terminal operating systems which they are reluctant to give up. The challenge is integrating this with any new systems equipment makers supply.

“This is the slow bit because we’re all risk-averse,” he said, pointing out that issues include who will bear the risk if things go wrong and who will ultimately own whatever new IP is created through jointly working on the system.

Another major concern is cyber security and the only way to ease these concerns is to prove your system works, McLean said. As a result, Kalmar is working with several large operators on proof of concept projects precisely to give this reassurance.

Other confidence-building measures include Kalmar announcing that it is willing to work with other makers to integrate systems for port operators. McLean noted that it is the first equipment maker that has declared it will do this.

“It’s a real game changer,” he said, as the model then moves to looking at software integration as much as the actual engineering work.