Kalmar’s President has stated that the lack of global commercial standards for terminal automation is holding back the entire container shipping industry in his Port 2060 blog post.
Antti Kaunonen (pictured below) has identified two challenges that are being caused by each deployment being “more or less unique”, based on an interpretation of local regulations in addition to the specific needs of the terminal.
Kaunonen stated: “Firstly, since each installation is largely custom-built, it hasn't been possible to reuse proven solutions and benefit from economies of scale.
“Secondly, as each solution requires a separate development process, it has taken longer to reach optimum performance for the automated terminal.”
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Kaunonen has suggested that the industry needs to think of creating an infrastructure in which the entire automated system operates as a seamlessly integrated whole.
To push our industry effectively to the next level, Kaunonen wants to see a “copy with pride” approach with existing proven solutions with global industry standards.
He added: “It must be a joint effort and the end users should be active in this development too.
“I call for similar cooperation to our industry that has been accomplished in the airline industry to define their own requirements to suppliers.”
