APM Terminals Valencia
Automation of 8 lane container terminal entry and exit gate.
Port of Valencia, Spain
APM Terminals Valencia, former TCV Stevedoring Company, is located in the Port of Valencia, Spain, the second in terms of volume inside the country and one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean. APM Terminals Valencia provides an annual container throughput capacity of 1,4 million TEUs and is part of APM Terminals, a leading marine terminal operator, managing more than 180 terminals in 59 countries around the world.
As part of its policy of continuous facility improvement, TCV decided to relocate and redesign its gate access operations. The goal was to boost traffic capacity without increasing the number of lanes, and to improve service quality overall, by redirecting the flow of trucks for more efficient operations and at the same time introducing gate automation technology. Previously, operations across the terminal’s 5 entry lanes and 3 exit lanes were completely manual.
TCV’s requirements were for a turnkey project covering design, engineering and installation of an automated access system equipped with OCR for containers and vehicles, plus recognition of dangerous goods labels, and fully integrated with the company’s terminal operating system (TOS).
With more than 2,000 vehicle transactions in the terminal each day, the challenge for TMEIC was to implement a system that provided extremely high reliability and precision in container and vehicle identification, speed of operation, simple interaction with drivers, ease of use by terminal staff and total integration with the TOS.
Solution
To meet the project requirements, TMEIC installed various integrated modules from its GateSuite range. All have greatly exceeded TCV’s performance expectations.
At the 8 entry and exit gate lanes, TMEIC installed its GateCCR and GateIMDG systems for automatic reading of container ID numbers, truck license plates and dangerous goods label data. As well as capturing the container’s ISO code, GateCCR identifies the size and type of containers and takes images and videos for damage inspection control. Coupled with these two modules, TMEIC installed its GateOS operating system, which provides operators with real-time information regarding the status of each gate lane, as well as managing communications with the terminal TOS.
To manage the interface with the driver, TMEIC GateKiosks were installed in each lane, incorporating a bar code reader, ticket printer and easy-to-use touchscreen. Process automation was completed with the GateTraffic module, providing instant integration of all physical traffic control elements and control of all terminal access and exit logistics.
Results
TMEIC ’s automated terminal access technology has converted TCV into a reference point in the Port of Valencia in terms of gate reliability, efficiency and maintenance simplicity.
The 8 terminal lanes can now operate autonomously with minimal staffing requirements and average facility access times of less than 1 minute.
The TMEIC Operations Viewer module also included in the project has allowed TCV to actively monitor and manage the performance of its gate operations, with detailed analysis of processing times, CCR and LPR reliability statistics for individual lanes, an archive of images and videos for damage control, verification of work order forms for each vehicle and other key historical information related to incidents and events.
