Frank Tazelaar News

The annual Terminal Operators Conference (TOC) in Europe was held June 9-11 in Rotterdam with over 4000 people attending the conference supply chain sessions, Tech TOC, Bulk TOC venues and exhibits. Alex Duca, head of design and automation for APM Terminals called for a sensor revolution. “We want to have sensors everywhere - on all moving equipment, on all operational interfaces and transfer points. Sensors give us data power and metrics - so we can make things better and improve services. A whole new world of equipment intelligence opens to us all. When you extend this capability across the port ecosystem we make quantum leaps in the business and the supply chain. We make our customers stronger, our companies better and our jobs more important - each of us has a role to play”.

APM Terminals has signed a two-year, €5 million ($6.23 million) contract with Amsterdam-based NV Nuon Energy for the supply of environmentally-sustainable wind-generated electricity to power the new APM Terminals Maasvlakte II cranes and container handling equipment. The new 2.7 million TEU annual capacity deepwater terminal, scheduled to receive its first commercial vessel call later this month, will reportedly be the world’s first container terminal with zero emissions on site and off site. The contract term begins January 1, 2015.

APM Terminals concluded a contract with Austrian-based crane manufacturer Hans Kuenz GmbH in combination with ABB of Sweden for an additional 22 Automated Rail-Mounted Gantry Cranes (ARMGs). The order will bolster the yard operation for Phase I of the new 2.7 TEU million annual capacity, deep-water Maasvlakte II terminal which will begin operations in November 2014. The 30-meter wide ARMGs will use a fully automated technologically advanced system to load and unload containers onto and off of external truck chassis, and onto a fleet of 37 battery-powered Lift Automated Guided Vehicles (Lift AGVs) in what will be the world’s most technologically advanced container terminal.