2008-05-02 - A complete ABB crane systems solution has helped create the world’s first fully automated bulk cargo terminal in Shanghai. Three giant unmanned cranes are remotely operated from a central control room to achieve new industry benchmarks in speed, efficiency and productivity.
By ABB Communications
The solution revolutionizes the way that bulk materials like coal, minerals and grain are loaded and unloaded at non-container ports and shipping terminals.
“The Luojing project comprises a number of ‘firsts’ and embodies the technical competence and innovative spirit of ABB.”
Bao Qifan, Vice President, Shanghai International Port Group
It enables port operators to evolve from the comparatively inefficient and error-prone world of manned cranes - where each crane has its own driver who receives instructions via radio from a quayside control room - to a fully automated, unmanned world of precision handling where each crane is programmed to operate automatically and is monitored and controlled from a single central control room.
The solution coordinates the operations of the terminal cranes into seamless cycles, thereby optimizing equipment use, reducing cycle times and establishing new standards of efficiency, productivity and safety, as well as significantly reducing the need for manpower.
ABB designed and delivered the groundbreaking solution for the recent expansion and modernization of Luojing port, Shanghai. The cranes include the world’s first fully automated grab ship unloader (a large clamshell bucket which unloads up to 50 tons of material at a time), the first fully automated stacker/reclaimer crane in China, and a fully automated ship loader.
The world's first fully automated grab ship unloader for removing bulk cargo can detect the position of any object with centimeter accuracy, for fast unloading without collisions.
The pioneering grab ship unloader (GSU) utilizes an innovative ABB technology called Target Position Sensor (TPS), which detects the position of any object with centimeter accuracy and enables fast approach to target with optimum path control and without collision between the bucket and the ship.
TPS is a highly successful technology that ABB developed to enable ship profiling, chassis alignment and obstacle surveillance during loading and unloading operations at container terminals. It is installed in more than 150 ship-to-shore and rail-mounted gantry cranes worldwide.
ABB developed the solution on behalf of Shanghai International Port Group. In addition to advanced software technologies like TPS, the solution is based on a broad range of ABB power and automation products including electrical control systems, energy-efficient motors and variable speed drives.
The stacker/reclaimer crane is part of a precision automated materials handling system designed by ABB to quickly load and unload bulk materials like coal, grain and minerals.
Luojing is one of several terminals that collectively make up Shanghai port, widely considered the world’s busiest in terms of both cargo tonnage (total weight of goods loaded and discharged) and shipping tonnage (total volume of ships handled).
In addition to serving China’s largest city and the entire Yangtze River Delta economy, which produces one-fifth of China’s gross domestic product, Luojing port serves several major steelworks including Bao Steel’s nearby Luojing facility, to which it is connected by a belt conveyor system for fast and easy transport of ore.
ABB is the world’s leading supplier of crane automation and electrification systems for container and bulk material terminals.