Kalmar secures Wilhelmshaven strad pilot

The company, which is part of the Finnish company Cargotec, will deliver four automated, four-high straddle carriers and an emulation system to the German deep-water container terminal, which is undertaking the pilot with the aim of proving that automated straddle carrier technology is fully functional, safe and ready to be rolled out.

The first products are set to be delivered in 2018’s fourth quarter, with EUROGATE deciding whether (and at which sites) to implement an automated straddle carrier system after completion of the pilot project, anticipated to be the end of the second quarter of 2019.

Both the live Kalmar equipment and the Kalmar emulation environment will make use of the company’s Terminal Logistics System (TLS), which lets all automated items of equipment, process automation solutions and access control, security and failure monitoring devices be controlled via a single platform.

EUROGATE said Kalmar’s reassurance that it could provide a system capable of “mega-terminal” scale and integrate equipment and terminal operation systems from any third party proved decisive with regards to their choice of provider.

Additionally, the company commented that it cannot afford to ignore digitalisation and automation developments if it wants to secure the future, and was therefore focusing long-term on implementing digitalisation and automation technologies.