Настоящая статья, построенная в форме беседы с ведущими поставщиками программного обеспечения для портовых терминалов, посвящена вопросам, связанным с автоматизацией технологических процессов в производстве портовых работ в современных условиях революционного развития информационных технологий. Особое внимание уделяется влиянию на эффективность автоматизации в портах Латинской Америки роста пропускной способности Панамского канала. Несмотря на определенные трудности в развитии автоматизации, в частности, определяющиеся сложностью освоения информационных технологий, авторы приходят к заключению о том, что коммерческая успешность операторов портовых терминалов во многом будет зависеть от их способности внедрять информационные технологии в производство.
How will terminal operations in Latin America evolve over the next 10 years? CM spoke to a leading supplier of terminal software solutions, whose executives predict increasing levels of automation for both processes and equipment.
By now, there can be little scepticism about the impact of automation on the world. Faster technological processes, fewer human errors and the odd worker relations dispute are common in locations as varied as train ticket offices and the world’s biggest ports.
In particular, container terminals are seeing an increasing amount of automation, with the likes of Rotterdam World Gateway leading the way with multiple pieces of automated equipment.
So where does Latin America stand on automation? Martin Bardi, senior director at Navis, told CM about the attitude of terminal operators in the region.
“A number of years ago it was all about productivity,” he said. “Some operators would use 10 internal transport vehicles (ITVs) or trucks to a single crane just to reach really high productivities, since cost was not a big issue.”
However, nowadays efficiency is the most important goal, according to Bardi, due to rising cost pressures on terminals as shipping lines push for more competitive rates. “The next logical step is automation. While it requires significant capital investments, the pay-out for some of the terminals is substantial. That’s clearly where the market is going,” he stated.
Chuck Schneider, general manager, Americas at Navis, described two waves of automation, the first being “process automation”. He said: “To handle larger volumes and become more efficient, you’re going to see more deployment of automation technologies like optical character recognition (OCR) and position detection systems such as radiofrequency identification (RFID).”
A future of more sophisticated optimisation seems likely. In years gone by, people would focus on trying to optimise specific processes at terminals, said Schneider. “So if you’re fixing a bottleneck, the bottleneck moves around,” he added, pointing out an obvious flaw.
A more “holistic” optimisation process, taking everything into consideration, including the vessel, equipment, gates, yard and rail, is something that Navis is working on.
One of the factors that will underpin the use of automation in Latin America and around the world is the spiralling growth of data analytics. Schneider views the potential effects on optimisation over the next few years as a “revolution” rather than a “stepwise improvement”.
The data revolution will allow terminal operators to have more concrete information than ever, showing them exactly what is happening on-site and helping them identify areas for improvement.
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” he added, stressing that the new tools will lead to greater efficiency.
Bardi offered his take: “Operating a terminal without a proper analytic tool is like getting into a car without a dashboard. You don’t know how much fuel you have left, what speed you’re going at, whether you might get a speeding ticket or whether you’re going too slow and you might not get to your destination on time.”
Next wave
Following on from process automation, said Schneider, the next wave will be equipment automation. “In regions like Brazil where labour is fairly expensive, you’re going to see an actual return on investment for those terminals that invest in equipment automation. Countries where labour isn’t such an issue might lag behind a little bit unless something is driving them, like in Panama with the Canal.”
In Schneider’s opinion, Latin America is not ready for automated horizontal transport in the short term, as it is faced with too great an expertise shortage to make this big step yet. Hence, he sees traditional automated stacking crane (ASC) projects with manned horizontal transport as a more likely scenario.
Nevertheless, automation of rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes is on the horizon, he said, claiming that at least half a dozen related projects will happen in Latin America over the next 5-10 years. This may be the development of choice for many of the region’s terminals, particularly those lacking the capital or expertise to go for larger civil projects with ASCs.
If you’re willing to go to the expense of putting in bus bars or cable reels for RTGs, the next thing you’re going to look at is how you can leverage that to either do remote operations or fully automated RTGs,” he added.
When it comes to automation’s second wave, operational technology companies will be working more closely than ever with equipment manufacturers to reach optimal outcomes, according to Schneider.
Taking the example of RTGs, equipment makers are looking to control the machine’s movement while automated systems providers need to optimise the dispatch of work to the equipment to ensure that vessel operations run optimally.
The crucial issue here is dealing with exceptions. “An automated piece of equipment can’t deal with an exception on its own. It needs the software to deal with the exception,” Schneider pointed out.
Another factor to consider in Latin America is the strength of the region’s workers’ unions. Over time, the fight for workers’ rights has represented a constant spanner in the works for many companies trying to modernise human work with technology.
However, Schneider is not convinced that this will be a major issue in port operations, stating: “In the end, people will think: ‘If we don’t do this, our port or terminal isn’t going to be competitive. We have the potential to lose volume and that would result in lost jobs’.”
He emphasised the cases of two heavily automated terminals on the west coast of the US, Trapac and Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT). These operations have managed to ramp up their technological processes despite the formidable stature of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which took such a strong line on recent unrelated labour negotiations that President Obama had to intervene.
Geographical variation
Regarding the prevalence of these automation trends in Latin America, Bardi believes that there will be some geographical disparities.
With the expansion of the Panama Canal, terminals in Central America, Colombia and the Caribbean are best located to take advantage of higher volumes.
These locations plus Brazil, which will retain high volumes from local imports and exports, are most likely to go down the automation route, according to Bardi, pushed by a need to enhance efficiency. However, terminals further south in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru will not gain the same volumes.
Schneider believes that location atone will not determine who succeeds. While the dual scenario of larger vessels and fewer vessel calls is going to heighten pressure on terminal operators, varying approaches to automation will determine “the winners and the losers”.
Identifying the different characteristics of the two groups, he said: “If you start doing automation, the role of technology in the business and the reliance on it increases exponentially. The winners are going to be the terminals that figure out how to have operations and IT partners together on these projects.
If you view an automation project as just an IT project, you’re going to struggle.”
A further discrepancy between winners and the losers will come from how much they invest in technology professionals at the top of their field. Those who use people with mediocre IT skills will struggle to make equipment automation work well, added Schneider.
Clearly, automation will continue to become more prevalent in Latin American terminal operations over the next 10 years. The key examination for the region’s big players will be how to harness it best. ■
Авторы: Chuck Schneider, Martin Bardi
Источник: Container Management. – 2015. – April. – P. 32 – 33.