The increase of global container shipping volumes and the improvement experimented by the industries of ocean and in land transport during the last decades has moved the focus from them to port terminals as the key factor for improving logistics whilst reducing costs.

This, in addition to the fact that competition between ports has increased dramatically, make it crucial for port managers and operators to come up with new methods and intelligent purchasing solutions. Whether a port has little or a lot of competition, it should always aim to ameliorate container storage yards to rise terminal reliability and reduce berth time, which are the key to increase volume of traffic and revenue and the safest bet to reduce allocated crane hours, manpower and maintenance costs.

The location of the port, the type of service provided and the number and level of integration of companies operating within the infrastructure are elements affecting productivity, as is the type, cost and quality of machinery used in handling and transportation such as stacking cranes, on which we will focus on this article.

Some key factors conditioning the level of productivity can be solved with adequate crane machines while others are related to superior crane management.

Crane productivity is measured by the following rate:

Net Crane Rate = total containers handled/elapsed crane time

In this formula, elapsed crane time is the number of hours the crane has been operative minus operational delays, that can be for example due to complex types of operations mixing loading and unloading in deck or hold, large container size, speed of the stacking crane, waiting periods for absence of ground slots or delays for maintenance interventions.

The ability to solve some of these problems is one important aspect in the decision-making process when acquiring a new crane. It is, in fact, because of its capacity to respond to them that

RTG cranes (rubber tyred gantry canes) have become a popular purchase in container terminals aiming to increase their competitive edge.

RTG cranes are higher and wider than usual mobile stacking gantry cranes that operate on rubber tyres and that lift objects by a hoist in a hoist trolley and that allow movement along multiple lanes of road rails.

The main advantage of this crane machine is its level of efficiency which in fact decreases pilling time. Its rising system works vertically and integrates with the terminal’s trucks, and its road rail rotates in order to service more than one road rail.

RTG cranes are easy to handle and safe, and can be integrated in automation projects, the next step to improving terminal storage yards productivity which cuts back operational costs and increases safety by reducing human access to the stacking area.

Automatic pick-up, drop-off and stacking of containers provides greater flexibility to adapt to changes in container quantities and volumes, lowers the need for crane operators and controllers and can do a better job categorizing and locating numerated containers in the biggest container yards of the terminal.