Working in partnership

APM Terminals' Pier 400 container handling facility in the Port of Los Angeles has built up considerable experience in the use of optical character recognition (OCR) and radio frequency ID (RFID) as part of its main gate system.

According to Alan McCorkle, senior vice president at Pier 400, the introduction of such technologies offers gains in operational efficiency through fewer keystroke errors and more timely updates to the database systems.

"Most importantly, it gave us a better view of the dynamic terminal container yard, which has resulted in safer operations," he says.

OCR is used to log both container numbers and license plate numbers at the gate, although the former is the primary function. And the technology, he insists, has proved extremely reliable, with OCR performing consistently in excess of 95%.

"Factors that tend to lead to false reads are mainly deteriorated paintwork or the presence of dirt and grime on a container. In addition, some new equipment displays container numbers in unacceptable positions, thereby preventing accurate reads from taking place."

Charlotte-based APS Technology installed the gate OCR system in 2002 to automate traffic in and out of the 56 gate lanes at APM Terminal's Pier 400 facility. The APS OCR, integrated with Navis' Express Terminal Operating System, automated the process of capturing and recording container and equipment identification numbers as they entered and exited the terminal.

Then, in 2007 APS supplemented its gate OCR system with crane OCR and a rail automation solution at Pier 400. The crane system captures images of containers during load/discharge and automatically reads the equipment number and ISO information via OCR, while the rail solution combines two APS products: rail OCR portals and APS' patented Rail Equipment Tracking System. 

"The combined solution gives the terminal the capacity to automatically identify shipping containers and associated railcars, and track their exact GPS location as they are parked on one of the twelve on-dock rail tracks," says APS.

Asked whether OCR technology on the gate is more reliable than simple human checkers, Mr McCorkle notes that neither OCR systems nor human checkers are 100% accurate all of the time. "We believe that OCR technology works best when human checkers are deployed to resolve any errors that the system throws up. This is, by far, the best possible system for ensuring that our gate maintains fluid operations," he says.

Asked as to how an return on investment can be calculated on deployment of OCR, Mr McCorkle says this depends very much on individual terminals' unique applications and processes. At Pier 400, for example, there are 56 inbound/outbound gate lanes, 14 cranes and a rail portal all using OCR to handle all of the containers entering and exiting the facility.

"At Pier 400, therefore, ROI was as generous as a few years," he says. "It is also important to note the operational benefits of the accurate, real-time quality of the data that OCR produces, as well as the immeasurable value of increased safety to our workers that is provided by putting checkers handling exceptions in a safer, indoor environment."

RFID tags are also routinely applied to the windscreen of all trucks entering the terminal. These were introduced as part of the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach's "Clean Trucks" environmental initiative. However, the tags themselves contain only a serial ID. The port manages a database of information regarding the environmental qualities of the truck; the terminal operator is required to cross-reference this for access and report the information to the port.

"In addition, we do use the tag to track truck movements within the terminal. This tracking allows us to plan delivery of import loads according to the order of the trucks waiting to receive a container. This is a much more efficient process for both the trucker and terminal compared to the more traditional first in/first out system at the gate," he says, adding that the cost of the tags was assumed directly by the port authority and not by APM Terminals.

As for what lessons APM Terminals has learnt from the introduction of new technology on the gate, Mr McCorkle observes that project implementation tends to take longer and be more expensive than first expected

"It's very difficult to introduce new infrastructure at key points in your operation while continuing to run the business at optimum efficiency. This is usually the cause of the much longer than forecast time line. You have to learn how to work and install these new systems around a very dynamic operation, whilst overcoming the main challenges in order to realise the benefits," he says.

Finally, in respect of the future deployment of biometrics on the gate, Mr McCorkle believes that this may well be mandated eventually by the Department for Homeland Security as part of its Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme, whose implementation was completed in full in Los Angeles on April 14^th this year. He stresses that, whatever technology is eventually certified by the authorities will be introduced at Pier 400. At the moment, the current TWIC card programme has opted for fingerprint identity validation, but terminals are not yet required to have fingerprint scanners in place.