Next Level Logistics
Rush hour in the port of the big South Korean city of Busan. Huge container ships are moored to the Dongwon Global Terminal. High above the deck of a freighter, a mammoth gantry crane is lowering to grab one of the 20-foot-long steel boxes with centimeter-accuracy, lifting it in a fluid sequence of movements and soon afterward depositing it on a driverless transportation vehicle – programmed with pinpoint accuracy. Now, what are we looking for here in vain?
It’s people doing classic dock work like loading, unloading, hauling containers to the warehouse, and picking them up again. Busan is a prime example of fully automated and digitalized ports of the future.
Over 80 percent
of the international trade volume is carried by sea. Without efficient and well-organized processes in the ports, worldwide trade would be unthinkable.
Source: International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Here, in Asia’s leading fully automated transshipment hub, as Korea promotes the facility, humans have long ceased to directly operate machines. Instead, they remote-control them from an open-plan office using joysticks, like in a computer game. In Busan, one person can operate four cranes at the same time. Today, the huge container cranes that used to be operated by humans at dizzying heights are fully automated. That has little in common anymore with classic port operations.
Specialized software calculates the most efficient sequence for loading and unloading in real time. Sensors and cameras perform every move with pinpoint accuracy. Today, learning systems and AI-supported algorithms are doing jobs that used to call for experience, intuition, and muscle power – faster, safer, and without needing to take a break.
The market for automated container terminals is growing rapidly due to increasing global trade, port congestion, and the demand for more efficient cargo processing. Key regions such as Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America invest not only in automated cranes but also in autonomous vehicles and AI-supported terminal management systems to optimize port automation. Technological advances such as 5G-capable ports, AI-controlled predictive maintenance, and blockchain-based logistics tracking are changing the industry.
11 billion U.S. dollars
That’s the estimated value of the global market for automated container terminals in 2024. By 2032, it’s expected to reach around 13.8 billion U.S. dollars with an average annual growth rate of 2.9 percent.
Source: Databridgemarketresearch
Training aid from the gamer scene
The future has also begun at the container terminals in Hamburg, Europe’s third-largest port trailing Rotterdam and Antwerp in third place in terms of transshipment statistics. “PortSkill 4.0” is what the software start-up “Patient Zero Games” is called that has its origins in the gaming industry and is preparing dock workers for their future world at work. The name of the game of this vision is more mouse clicks and fewer switching levers.
In the dedicated training center at the Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) in Hamburg virtual learning worlds are the focus. The heart of the facility is a large video wall with six monitors that together with several control consoles serve as the control center. Another room is equipped with a remote-control center for container cranes, a warehouse, and rail cranes while in a separate room virtual reality applications can be used for immersive training sessions.
30 percent
more productive: remote container crane operators working in front of monitors armed with joysticks are faster, more efficient, and therefore more cost-effective.
Source: Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG
The facilities at the CTA are connected to other sea port locations so that participants can meet across locations in a shared virtual training setting. Some 11,500 employees at German sea ports are supposed to be prepared for the pending structural transformation in that way.
“Future dock work will call for different capabilities. Dealing with digital technology and IT processes, abstraction skills, and a new form of focusing and communicating in an integrated system.”
Thomas Lührs, project leader at PortSkill
Will jobs be lost?
In Hamburg, assures Angela Titzrath, the chairperson of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), employees are planned to be included in the transformation process, “Clearly,” she says, “we’re not going to terminate anyone for operational reasons but are going to qualify and train people for new jobs.”
PortSkill is supposed to create the prerequisites for that. In addition to the control center and the training facilities with remote control systems for container cranes and loading cranes, 3D video headsets are being used for practicing repair jobs of self-driving container transportation vehicles, among other things.
Torben Seebold, head of human resources at HHLA, outlines the future dock worker: “Their roles are changing. Physical activities will increasingly be replaced by controlling, analyzing, and monitoring IT-supported processes. Technical understanding, integrated work, and strong communication skills are in demand.”
The top 10 of the world’s largest container ports
Shanghai defended its top spot as the world’s largest container port in 2024, according to industry service Alphaliner. The world’s largest port increased its container transshipment volume by 7.5 percent to 25.5 million TEU. TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit referring to a 20-foot standard container.
European ports:
Logistics at Schaeffler
Automation and digitalization play an important role in Schaeffler’s logistics processes as well. Read more about the subject here.
