It might be interesting to see unmanned cranes near a port carry out containers to the precise place where they have to be for shipping. You have seen this kind of automated system in sci-fi movies. From now on, you are going to see this in reality.
Pusan Newport Co. Ltd. (PNC) has just finished final testing of an unmanned yard system in its first and second levels of its wharf located in Busan Port. This has been possible with a total amount of US$100 million investment in 2008. RFID technology is used in an unmanned yard system and makes it to be an almost 100 percent automated system.
When a truck enters into the front gate of a wharf, the RFID Reader automatically identifies freight information on the truck and guides it to the designated cargo. Then the unmanned crane loads the containers to the designated places once again after checking for the correct information by RFID.
“I think this is the world’s first automated yard system in terms of 100 percent unmanned facilities,” an official said. “PNC is going to offer RFID technologies to China by making an MOU with ZMPC, which is known as the world’s biggest company in the field of cranes.”
PNC has built the incredible automated yard system with 29 unmanned cranes and 110 RFID readers. It is planning to operate all the systems at Busn New Port in early August. This is just the start of many more to come. PNC hopes the government also recognizes the positive effects of automatic systems in reducing the cost and time and in increasing productivity.
