Cargo movement inside seaports is a crawl slowed down by congestion, accidents, and tethered vehicles, in some cases making air freight more attractive. Factory-like automation in seaports will remove discrete processes and replace them with continuous cargo flows from ocean carriers to land-based means of transportation for their rapid movement.
Unmanned mobile robots, remote-controlled for a serial movement like convoys, are replacing tethered vehicles. The pace of cargo flow is accelerating as its movement to outgoing land-based carriers is freed of delays caused by accidents, human error, and congestion. Predictable navigation of unmanned mobile robots, optimized to avoid cross-flows and collisions, will relieve the perennial congestion at yards.
Private wireless networks create the environment for factory-like automation in ports. They provide the bandwidth for remote video monitoring and video analytics to synchronize workflows, aid the connections with moving vehicles, and route them intelligently.
Creating sequential workflows at seaports with 5G
Serial workflows are currently lacking in seaports. The absence of coordinated cargo flow, tethered equipment for unloading cargo that does not seamlessly connect with mobile robots, crewed vehicles whose activity is interrupted by changes in shifts and accidents as they navigate through choked yards – all contribute to the delays.
Delays at seaports start before the docking of an ocean carrier. They are directed to their berths by two tugboats – one at each end of a ship. Today’s massive ships have little room to maneuver as they navigate from the open sea through narrower channels to their berth and run the risk of getting stuck for weeks, as happened recently in a similar situation in the Suez Canal. The Port of Antwerp mitigates the risk of ships running aground by sharing live video streams, over its 5G private network, with the two tugboats to ensure a smooth movement of vessels.
Preventing cargo thefts and accidents with drone-based surveillance
Once moored at the quay (shoreline with the berths), cargo inside ships is susceptible to theft and impossible for humans to monitor. Twenty percent of all maritime theft occurs at ports. Increasingly, ports are utilizing drones for the surveillance of ports with 3D sensors. The data is analyzed to detect anomalies, such as the entry of an unauthorized person. For example, the Port of Antwerp has used drones for the early detection of oil spills. The images sent by the drone help the security authorities to find the source of the problem.
Automating port operations to reduce delays and human errors
Automated rubber-tired gantry cranes, steered remotely with the help of 3D sensors, and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are replacing tethered rail-mounted gantry cranes to transfer containers from quays to the stacking place uninterrupted. It avoids human errors, collisions & injuries, and work interruptions during shift changes.
The remote control of automated guided mobile vehicles needs an infrastructure for video monitoring for remote control and video analytics to route traffic across the least congested pathways. The Port of Los Angeles installed high-definition cameras to monitor traffic flow with the data flowing over its millimeter-wave private network.
Commenting on the loss of competitiveness of the Southampton Port to European ports, a report prepared for UK Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy by Catapult Digital commented, “the most important aspect of Maritime Ports is the movement of containers off the ship.” Recently, the Southampton port entered into a contract with Verizon and Associated British Ports to build a private 5G network to support automation within the port, including automated guided vehicles.
Shanghai Yangshan Port and Ningbo Port in China use 5G private networks in collaboration with China Mobile and Huawei to control RTG cranes aided by HD video remotely. Each of the 60 Gantry cranes at the port uploads five to 16 channels of surveillance videos, and 1080p videos require a bandwidth of about 30 Mbps. Additionally, PLC communications between the central control room and a gantry crane require a network latency of less than 30 milliseconds.
Port automation is driving 5G private network innovation
Demand for factory-like automation in ports has attracted a host of companies to invest in private 5G networks and develop applications for remote video monitoring, analytics, control and routing of mobile equipment, and collision avoidance.
Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud Platform provides an environment to increase efficiencies in cargo handling. Its partner Kalmar, a port machinery maker, will help connect the private network with straddle carriers, automated stacking carriers, and rubber-tired gantry cranes. The first phase of 5G private network deployment at the Port of Zeebrugge allows tracking, analyzing, and managing connected devices across multiple port-based applications in real-time. At the Port of Seattle, the solution also includes an on-premise core for low-latency data transfers and control. Nokia also partnered with Edzcom to implement a private 5G network at Finnish ports in Kokkola, Oulu, and Hamina-Kotka.
Upstart Celona brings a fine-grained micro-slicing approach to the quality of services. While incumbents ensure a consistent quality of service for the entire private network, Celona provides micro-slices of the private network, each with a distinct quality of service differentiated for individual applications such as remote monitoring of cranes, AGVs, or video applications.
Historically focused on service providers, Ericsson has entered the enterprise space, including ports, with dual-use, 4G and 5G, private networks, and open APIs for easy integration with operating and IT systems.
Samsung is bringing its 5G RAN and Core to its collaboration with IBM Industry 4.0 Studio and hybrid cloud platform to deliver solutions such as video analytics and control of AGVs.
Geoverse has entered into a contract agreement with Oakland Maritime Support Services (OMSS) at the Port of Oakland. It will use its GeoCore, a virtualized Evolved Packet Core (EPC) as a Service, to control the mobile end-points or the automated mobile robots and the port-wide mobile network. In addition, it will insert SIM cards into each of the mobile devices to monitor and track them.
Conclusion
Centralized port intelligence of 5G private networks is gaining prominence as ports expand the scope of automation across all their processes. Hundreds of automated mobile robots will zig-zag their way across increasingly congested ports. Centralized control will keep these moving parts conforming to a larger plan to make optimal uses of resources.
