Automation improves efficiency for Chinese ports, promotes high-quality development
Sheng
Yulei from People’s Daily
Automation
is turning China’s Port of Qingdao, Shandong Province into an “unmanned
terminal”, reducing the pressure on human labor and contributing to
high-quality development of the country.
A
few years ago, when Wang Yang, a young bridge crane operator started his career
in the Port of Qingdao, his daily routine was lifting cargos up and down in a
bridge crane 40 meters above the ground. He had to lower his head for a dozen
hours each day for operation.
What
he endured back then was not only the sweats, but also the loneliness in the
operation room that covered less than 3 square meters.
“When can we work with our heads up?” That has been a dream for generations of workers like Wang.
Finally,
the dream came true for Wang and his colleagues today. Now the Port of Qingdao
has established a fully automated container terminal, where the previous bridge
crane operators have turned into “remote monitoring personnel”.
The
fully automated Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal is
now a “no man’s zone”. From a 60-meter-high crane, it can be seen that
autopilot electric vehicles are transporting cargos in an orderly manner, and
the hoisting equipment are operating rapidly at the stacking area
automatically.
Wang
now works at an office building far from the operating area, and he can finally
keep his uniform clean in the new working environment. He has transformed from
a manual laborer that had to endure harsh working conditions to an employee
that works in front of a computer.
Now,
the workload that used to need more than 60 people at a traditional port can be
completed by only nine. Thanks to the great changes in the port, the blue-collar
workers have become the commanders that control the “brain” of the terminal.
The
change of the working content reflects the transformation of the production
mode.
The
development of ports indicates that in the old days, manpower always had to
take the most strenuous part of the jobs, be it loaders or mechanical
operators.
However,
the situation is totally different today. All the procedures are automated at
the unmanned port. An average of 33.1 units can be handled each hour, a
performance way better than that of a traditional port.
At
present, operation instructions are sent by computers, and tasks completed by
robots. What the unmanned port relies on are the new technologies such as the
Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent control, information management,
communications and navigation, big data, and cloud computing.
The
practice of the Port of Qingdao has demonstrated that container terminals, though
long been regarded as a typical traditional industry, can achieve deep
integration with new impetus, new technologies, and new forms of business.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China
(CPC) Central Committee stressed during his visit to the Tianjin port that the
city should aim for the far-off future in its efforts to develop the port into
a world-class smart and green port, noting that “a country must enhance
its transportation, especially sea transportation, before seeking economic
development and improvement in national strength.”
While
liberating workers from intense physical work is the direct consequence of an
unmanned port, the updates of technologies and the improvement in production
mode mean more to the port itself.
From
physical work to intelligence, and from manual skills to machinery operation, the
port’s path to automation driven by scientific and technological development
has contributed solutions to the transition in which traditional drivers are
replaced by new ones.
Only
by fostering new driving forces and upgrading traditional
engines to realize self-revolutionary development, can a world-class
smart port be built and high-quality economic development realized.
Hard
work is the foundation of development and innovation is crucial. More than 40
patents were applied during the construction of the fully automated container
terminal. The engineering has proven that the courage and capability to
innovate, and to throw off the shackles of traditional knowledge and position
are necessities for seeking development, and it’s clear that in order to pursue
development, enterprises need to make courageous breakthroughs so as to
overtake their competitors.
In
February, the Port of Qingdao was invited to attend the Press Conference for
the World’s First 5G Smart Harbour during the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC)
held in Barcelona, Spain. By sharing and promoting its experiences in
technology application and smart harbor development, the port won extensive
recognition and praise.
During
People’s Daily’s interview at the Port of Qingdao, the smart terminal was also
visited by a group of artificial intelligence experts from Germany. It is
learned that such foreign technological exchanges have already become a routine
for the port.
A
slogan in the office building of the port says that “innovation defines the
future”, which makes the smart terminal more like a tech firm.
Indeed,
the evolving technological advances and innovative ideas are what support the
attempt of the port to transform labor-intensive production to
one that is driven by science and technology. In addition, they are
also the source of the port’s tireless exploration of the future
Seeking
new possibilities with innovation and intelligence, once will always find a
road leading to a better future.
Photo taken on Mar.18, 2019 shows the
Huangdao oil terminal and Qianwan ore terminal at the Port of Qingdao and the
streets in Qingdao West Coast New Area beside the two terminals.
(Photo/People’s Daily Online)
Automation improves efficiency for Chinese ports, promotes high-quality development
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