Vehicle charging project completes

The final charging station for Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) at the climate-neutral handling facility, HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA), has gone into regular operation.

This means that 18 electric charging stations are now available for charging the automatically driven AGVs that transport containers between the quayside and the container block storage area at the terminal.

Greener logistics

The fast-charging stations, each housed in a 20-foot container, are distributed along the AGV area in groups at both ends and in the centre of the area.

They supply the AGVs with electricity generated by renewable energies. In about 1.5 hours the AGVs are fully charged, one battery charge is sufficient for one day of operation.

Depending on the charging status, the AGVs drive to the charging stations automatically and the charging process is also fully automated.

The formerly diesel-powered AGV fleet will be converted completely to lithium-ion battery operation by 2023. More than 85% of the AGVs are already battery-powered. Eleven more battery vehicles will join the fleet at CTA next year.

Together, HHLA said that the battery AGVs and the electric charging stations at CTA are a further step in the implementation of HHLA’s “Balanced Logistics” sustainability strategy.

THis aims to halve CO2 emissions by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality throughout the group by 2040.