This process utilises sizable labour and equipment resources, often requiring equipment operators to chase container moves up and down the terminal, wasting fuel, increasing emissions, causing congestion, and delaying operations. This was once the case for one of the largest container trans-shipment hubs in Latin America, Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) Panama. However, with the help of some innovative technology the 1.4 million TEU per annum terminal transformed this resource-intensive work order dispatch process into a seamless, automated one with the help of Tideworks Technology. The company’s ‘Traffic Control’ software dynamically controls the terminal’s container handling equipment by automatically dispatching container move instructions via wireless computers to the optimal container handler at the optimal moment. Using zoning and pooling strategies, the system creates, sequences and dispatches work instructions that minimise equipment travel time and maximise equipment utilisation. Terminal staff run operations from a command centre that features Terminal View, a three-dimensional live rendering of terminal activity that helps manage every aspect of the operation — more efficiently, cost effectively and safely say Tideworks. Tideworks worked closely with the team at MIT to implement the new system without disrupting ongoing operations while seamlessly integrating with existing technology and tools. During the implementation, Tideworks partnered with MIT to refine the solution to meet the specific and unique needs of the terminal and address any challenges.One early challenge the team faced and overcame was to ensure the new system was able to accommodate dramatic fluctuations in the volume of equipment. It was imperative for the terminal that the system remained highly responsive and did not drop devices during periods of significant traffic. The Tideworks solution met these challenges and effectively positioned MIT for future growth and expansion.

Valuable Efficiency Gains

Unlike other terminal visualization tools that render the terminal using two-dimensional drawings, Terminal View is an immersive virtual world in which personnel can control the operation visually and interactively. Users of Terminal View can pan from left to right, up and down, and zoom in and out to view equipment, inventory, move status, vessels and trains. They can apply temporary colour coding to areas of the yard or container subsets to identify potential issues. They can also forecast the operation’s status at different time intervals using a Look Ahead feature, which, according to MIT’s Vice President of Operations, Robert Ahern, “provides an immensely helpful picture of where the equipment and containers are, where the operation is going, and where it will ultimately end up.” This revolutionary approach to running terminal operations yields sizable cost savings and service improvements for MIT and its customers. “In addition to the safety improvements we made by removing clerks in small vehicles from the yard, the efficiency gains have been huge. We were able to add 160,000 container moves to our operation without needing to purchase additional lifting equipment or hire new workers,” says Ahern. The savings have been especially helpful during these tough economic times. Meanwhile, as business begins to pick up, MIT is positioned to handle volume increases smoothly and cost effectively thanks to this innovative software.

The company states that an increasingly important consideration in the development of straddle carriers is the mega-terminals that use manual or automated shuttle carriers as a horizontal transport system between ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and the automatic stacking cranes (ASC) area. A typical type of this application, the company tells WPD, is Hanjin Shipping’s new Greenfield mega-terminal TTI Algeciras in Spain, which operates with 20 Kalmar shuttle carriers at the waterside and landside horizontal transportation system. These SHC240H shuttle carriers have a single-lifting capacity of 40 tonnes and can stack containers 2-high, and were delivered in January last year. Cargotec states that the key productivity benefit of its shuttle carrier in this set-up is its ability to leave and pick up containers from the ground – eliminating waiting times. This is how the system at Algeciras works: STS cranes place containers from the vessel on the ground, under the crane’s back-reach, from where the containers are then collected by the shuttle carriers and transported to the ASC buffer area. Cargotec states that this combination of equipment working together achieves high productivity with the lowest number of horizontal transportation vehicles. TTI Algeciras is the second mega-terminal operating with Kalmar shuttle carriers, the first being APM Terminals in Virginia, USA, which started operation with its Kalmar shuttle carrier horizontal transportation system in September 2007. Pointing to another case study of developing an innovative application for shuttle carriers, the company cites Muuga Container Terminal in Estonia. Here, in a system devised with the customer, Kalmar shuttle carriers are used as a horizontal transportation system at the rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) crane terminal instead of trailer tractors.  A further notable, longstanding example of Cargotec straddle carrier operations can be found in Brisbane, Australia. Here, together with Patrick terminal operations and Patrick Automation, the manufacturer pioneered the world’s first and only free ranging robotic straddle carrier terminal. This automated facility won Terminal of the Year at the 15th Annual Lloyd’s List DCN Shipping and Maritime Industry Awards last December. The unmanned fleet consists of 27 fully automated Kalmar Edrive straddle carriers. The terminal, which operates “unmanned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” commenced large-scale operations in December 2005.  The Kalmar Edrive model was also the source of a notable recent order for the company. In September last year, it received an order for 14 Kalmar Edrive straddle carriers from Générale de Manutention Portuaire (GMP) – a joint venture between terminal operator DP World and shipping company CMA-CGM at the port of Le Havre in France. The units will be delivered in the first quarter of 2011. These new all-electric straddle carriers will come equipped with twin-lift spreaders capable of lifting loads of up to 50 tonnes. Built to stack 4-high, the machines will help GMP meet the demands of its expanding container handling operations at the port, which handles more than 60% of France’s annual container traffic and has been consistently adding more capacity as part of GMP’s terminal expansion plans. GMP has opted for Kalmar 7+ generation ESC W straddle carriers, featuring electrically controlled engines, a variable speed generator (VSG) system and a winch hoist system with full AC drives. The Kalmar 7+ generation is Cargotec’s latest development in the straddle carrier market, and was launched at TOC Europe in June last year, under the title ‘Intelligent regeneration’.

Cargotec states that the modular 7+ generation series carriers adapt easily and can be tailored to all customers’ requirements. These vary from the most modern diesel-electric hybrid straddle or shuttle carriers with the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) to the more simple and rugged SC/SHC technology applications. The company adds that it places an onus on providing an after-sales service and support network with remote monitoring and diagnostics tools to facilitate maintenance and to optimise the uptime and performance of straddle and shuttle fleets. Based on the evolution of Kalmar’s 7th generation SC/SHC product family, the 7+ product range now includes a modular hyrdo-dynamic CSC model, a diesel-electric ESC W model, and both hydrostatic and diesel-electric shuttle carrier models. All diesel-electrical models are available in both ‘regular’ and hybrid versions. Consistency in technology is a further important facet of 7+ – Cargotec uses the same cabins, spreaders, control system, electrical and hydraulic systems across the entirety of this product range. The manufacturer states that this focus on standardised component solutions across the range affords the customer enhanced component reliability and longer periods of uptime. With straddle and shuttle carriers often operating for more than 6,000 hours a year in main terminals, Cargotec stresses the importance of this onus on providing continuous operations. The main new features of the range include an updated power package and power electrics. Cargotec states that the emission level stage 3B/tier 4 interim engines offer the “cleanest engine technology available today for off-road machines”. The Cargotec solution is based on utilising specific catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to combine the “best fuel consumption in both regular and hybrid use.” The Kalmar 7+ product family also includes optimised power electrics for improved fuel consumption and reliability. The new system is ready for hybrid use and other planned future power saving features.

Strong interest

To complement a year in which it recorded a surge in global demand for STS and RTG cranes, Liebherr says that interest in its straddle carriers in 2010 was strong. The manufacturer only officially entered the market last April with its first straddle carrier, placed into operation at Belfast Container Terminal alongside two existing development prototypes. Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd, based in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, spent three years testing and finalising its straddle carrier machines.

Paul Bolger, Product Manager Mobile of Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd, states that during 2010, the firm participated in a couple of tenders for replacement fleet machines at various ports. According to Bolger, feedback from prospective port customers has been encouraging, with some of the notably well received features of the company’s straddle carriers being the four-axle steering system, which results in reduced tyre wear, and t
he fine positioning features on the travel drive, which enables better handling of 45-foot containers for truck loading and discharge.

He adds: “The load measurement system employed by Liebherr, utilising four load cells for more accurate container weight measurement and hoist control, has also been well received along with the Liebherr build quality and hoist drive with external disc brake. Liebherr has seen a recent rise in inquiries, although breaking into this competitive market segment is expected to take some time.” He adds: “Liebherr’s first machines were 4-high singlelift, and the company now adds twinlift machines to its range with a number of machines in production. The interest shown from the market clearly demonstrates that ports want alternatives from a reliable and proven manufacturer such as Liebherr.”

Demand doubles

Guido Luini, Managing Director of Terex Cranes, Würzburg, and in charge of the company’s straddle carrier business, states that the manufacturer saw the worldwide demand for new equipment double from the previous year in 2010. “We have very successfully augmented our share in the market,” says Luini. “We have established our company as the clear leader in sprinter carriers, the one-over-one straddle carriers, by receiving the award of the two largest projects offered by the market – in South Korea and in the United Arab Emirates – and one in the USA, for a large railway terminal. In 2010, the after-sales service business reached the level we were at before the global financial downturn, so we are satisfied by our results and the Terex straddle carriers are coming out of the global downturn stronger.” The Managing Director explains that sales to new markets such as the aforementioned South Korea and UAE have helped this recovery. However, he adds that it has also been underpinned by orders from the geographic regions in which straddle carriers are traditionally popular. Luini states that low TCO combined with high quality makes Terex straddle carriers a compelling choice for customers. “Our straddle carriers are 95% made in Germany – this means high quality,” details the managing director. “In itself, this is an important point. Fuel consumption, low cost of parts and a very high availability ratio of our fleets and, in a nutshell, a low total cost of ownership, all combine as factors to provide our customers with a very high return on investment.” He adds that Terex’s continued investment in the after-sales aspects of the business is vital to its success: “Our customers know that by investing in our straddle carriers, they are investing their money in equipment that maintains a high value in the long term and responds to their expectations for productivity and total operating cost.”  Luini states that the manufacturer maintained a focus on investing in research and development in both 2009 and 2010, and is concentrating on keeping itself at the forefront of technological development. “In the second half of 2010 we handed over our first straddle carrier with the new Tier 4 engine, which is already in operation in the Benelux,” he states. “Our energy saving solution, with ultra-capacitors, is now also available to retrofit on our diesel-electric latest generations. Our automation projects for unmanned operations with straddle carriers and sprinters are at an advanced stage. We added new modules to our fleet management software. This system draws our customers’ interest as it helps operations managers to further optimise their service and workshop operations by eliminating wasted time as, with that, they can have the whole feet under control and at a glance can identify the service situations that need attention. This way, they can better plan and manage their fleet’s maintenance.”

Perhaps that’s why the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the bulk materials handling business finally expect to have some serious numbers to move in 2011 as coal and iron ore demand grow amid soaring prices. Add to that a rising demand for biofuels, especially in the United States, and recovery is not out of the question. Some of the surge in resource demand has been due to flooding in coal-rich Queensland, but the future still looks brighter than at any time for the past 18 months or so. Coal and iron ore demand are tipped to know no boundaries as the global steel industry fires its boilers even further in 2011 after world crude steel production jumped 15% over 2009 to a record 1.414 million tonnes in 2010. And with bulk raw materials flowing around the world with renewed vigour, there’ll be greater need for handling equipment such as circular stacker-reclaimers.

Sandvik record

For Sandvik Global Product Line Manager, Thomas Jabs, the recovery in bulk materials handling started to regain momentum in the second half of 2010. “A lot of projects that had been on hold during 2009 were restarted in 2010,” he says. “This also showed in a record breaking order intake for the Sandvik materials handling business in 2010.” Jabs says there are still projects being dusted off after the global financial crisis and some will reach the tendering stage in 2011, while new investment plans are already showing up on the horizon. “All in all the prospects for 2011 are good.” Sandvik made some organisational layoffs in 2010 and was helped through challenging times by a healthy order backlog in the materials handling business, which “kept us from running idle,” says Jabs. “On the other hand we turned a threatening situation into the opportunity to take a deep breath and critically review where we were after years of growth; we had to readjust our sights to what we are really good at – customer focus, solution providing, and market presence.” For circular stacker-reclaimers specifically, 2010 was “a little slow in terms of new machines,” however, but Sandvik did complete some major after-market repairs on client machines. “This is an area that we see constantly growing, and the demand for professional and safely executed repair work, preferably by the OEMs, is clearly increasing,” says Jabs. As for future trends, Jabs says Sandvik sees a tendency to even bigger installations and higher export capacities in almost all commodities. “This asks for larger machines, higher output, and higher reliability and long term performance. As well, the requirement to make the installations constantly safer to provide a healthy working environment is a factor that we are also addressing in our new developments,” he adds.

Good start

Another manufacturer who had a solid 2010 was BRUKS Rockwood Inc, the successful 2008 merger of Sweden’s BRUKs with North America’s Rockwood, and while it wasn’t a record year there was “a lot more activity in 2010 than there was in 2009.” That’s the feeling of Christopher Duffy, Eastern North America Sales Manager for the worldwide company, who says while North America isn’t completely out of the recession there were no real surprises in 2010. And as 2011 unfolds, Duffy says BRUKS Rockwood has made “a pretty good start” and is exceeding expectations so far. The buzz of excitement for one of the world’s largest makers of circular stacker-reclaimers rests in the bioenergy field with wood yard projects and other bioenergy industry renewal projects, bioenergy power plants up to 50 megawatts for smaller US utilities, and even some larger coal conversions to biomass. The workhorse of BRUKS Rockwood is the Circular Overpile Stacker-reclaimer (COSR) and installations now date back to the 1970s. Its overpile chain reclaimer (OCR) provides for smaller storage volumes, especially in the bio fuel energy market and comes in three main sizes suitable for small bio mass plants to wood pellet plants ranging from 400,000 cubic feet to 1 million cubic feet. Projects larger than 1 million and up to 6 million have six different styles to choose from. BRUKS Rockwood claims to have about 90% of the circular stacker-reclaimer business in the United States. Most of its COSRs and OCRs are typically open pile operations, but domed structures are sometimes the customer preference in sensitive areas. Duffy says open or closed has more to do with climate for most rather than dusting or other environmental worries.  BRUKS Rockwood also has a third option – its patent-pending Air-MAX, a circular blending bed stacker-reclaimer with air-supported belt conveyor technology – developed to provide a cost effective method of material storage while achieving blended material reclaim.

European view

In Germany, another major circular stacker-reclaimer maker, Forderanlagen Magdeburg (FAM) had a record setting 2008, but saw the bottom fall out of its worldwide market efforts in 2009 as the global recession hit hard. And 2010 was a bit slower again, giving no real hope into 2011 unless steel making around the world gains even greater momentum. FAM rarely sells its circular stacker-reclaimer as a single unit, but can do if needed. Most of its work, according to Ulrich Schneider, Director of Sales, is supplying the bulk handling equipment for a complete cement or power plant and the circular stacker-reclaimer is only one part of it. “We have a range of products in cement, power plants and open cast mining and we are quite happy with our sales figures from last year,” he adds. Not surprisingly, FAM is chasing two or three huge projects this year worth from Euro 30 to Euro 50 million for a complete plant operations and also stockyard systems, with circular stacker-reclaimers being part of the focus. Schneider sees the benefits of the circular stacker-reclaimers in coal fired power plants, where coal supplies are drawn from different countries and may need blending because of differing calorific values or ash content. He says some countries like Taiwan have moved from open storage to closed storage especially in cement plants and power plants because of tougher environmental requirements and weather c
onditions.

Korean success

In Germany, there are now six or seven power plants using circular stacker-reclaimers and the newer plants require enclosed buildings because of dust concerns and higher environmental standards. FAM has also enjoyed success in Korea with five iron ore projects in recent years and these stockpiles have been enclosed because of closeness to the sea and rough weather, or for blending or environmental concerns. FAM is hoping for a boost in iron ore industry volumes around the world because it has had continuous success there, says Schneider. And he sees China’s appetite for raw materials growing even further. FAM plans to work more and more with China, even if it isn’t for “the whole cake” because of the pricing pressure that country can bring. So far, Chinese buyers are sourcing FAM parts for cement plants because “they are happy with our equipment they’ve seen in Japan and Vietnam.” With Germany intent on closing its coal-fired power plants, an avenue of business has closed to FAM, says Schneider. He predicts that about 90% of business in future will be international with new energy resources being developed in South Africa, Australia and South America. FAM has also been looking at oil sands opportunities in Canada.

Emerging player

In China, a more than 20-year-old company emerging as a player among the OEMs as a builder of circular stacker-reclaimers is the De-Ying company in the Pinghu Economic Development Zone, Zhejiang Province, which has 35 machines in operation largely domestically. However, the company has 11 circular stacker-reclaimer sales in countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Sudan. De-Ying is also enjoying growing success with its range of bridge scraper reclaimers, sidelong scraper reclaimers and sidelong cantilever stackers. The company boasts it combines the technical know-how of more than 20 Chinese research institutes and science academies in developing and refining its product range. Much of its reputation comes as a tower crane supplier, but other major products include with luffing cranes, bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, flat-top cranes, and circular stacker-reclaimers.

Metso Minerals

One North American based builder of bulk materials handling equipment, Metso Minerals of Pittsburgh, has had an “extremely busy 2010,” but not for circular stacker-reclaimers as a separate entity. “We are swamped with everything else, we are so busy with dumpers,” explains Rich Schmitz, Vice President Products & Bulk Materials Handling. The company is enjoying big volumes in Australia, India and Brazil – over 100 bulk handling machines of various kinds. For Metso, circular stacker-reclaimers are a niche product originally developed for the pulp and paper industry as a low cost alternative stockpiler for the US inland river market. However, with train lengths growing and capacities going from 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes the numbers are now becoming too big for the machines to handle, says Schmitz.

OEMs respond

As buyers of circular stacker-reclaimers face more and more decisions and price considerations, the OEMs will have to respond. Sandvik’s Thomas Jabs sees this as a positive for the industry. “Dust emission, noise emission, energy efficiency and safety are more and more decision-making factors for our customers. This is not only already being seen in specifications and tenders, but they’re also part of internal company targets in a lot of modern operations. At Sandvik, we see this as a very positive development as it pushes the OEMs to new and more modern solutions and innovations.”