Kalmar demonstrates RTG automation

News 14 Sep 2017 by WCN Editorial

Kalmar demonstrated its RTG automation system at its Automation Technology Days event in Tampere this week, ahead of the first two machines being deployed at Dublin Ferryport Terminal (DFT) in Ireland.

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DFT’s new RTGs will be electrically powered, using a cable reel with fibre optic cores for data. The cranes will not have a cabin, and operate initially as fully remote controlled cranes. Early next year DFT and Kalmar plan to introduce automated “pick and place” moves within the stack, enabling the RTGs to perform some housekeeping moves fully automatically.

The cranes will not, however, operate automatically to the same extent as a rail mounted ASC, where the automation system controls all of the crane functions, with the remote operator handling the final landing of the spreader at the road truck interface.

Kalmar plans to offer this level of RTG automation in the future, but there are still issues to be resolved around European safety requirements and machinery directives that govern whether (and in what circumstances) a driver can remain in truck underneath a crane that is operating automatically. This issue, along with DFT’s interesting approach to purchasing terminal automation, will be covered in an article in the September issue of WorldCargo News.

Also on display was a new Kalmar new automated terminal tractor without a cabin, nicknamed the ‘ladybug”, that will be officially launched at a future date.