The current practice at container terminals is to manually remove twistlocks from containers – a time consuming activity. This process can be automated, which saves time, reduces risk at the terminal and contributes to a more efficient operation.
The removal of the twistlocks takes on average 15-20 seconds. When this process can be skipped, the cycle time of quay cranes can be significantly reduced. Besides this gain at the quay crane, the container positioning in the stack can be executed much faster also.
In addition, the berthing process of the vessel should take less time, since the twistlocks for containers above deck don’t have to be manually unlocked. Together these effects help to reduce the turnaround time of the vessel. This paper presents the quantified advantages of the automatic twistlock system for both container terminals and shipping lines…
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