In this paper, Sylvia Wong and Evan Crawford take a closer look at how automation was implemented at the highly automated facility in Los Angeles.
TraPac’s container terminal at the Port of Los Angeles is one of the most fully automated and highly integrated container terminals in the world.
Automated horizontal transport, used in conjunction with automated stacking cranes (ASC) and automated rail mounted gantry cranes (ARMG) for the on-dock rail operation has enabled the TraPac terminal to be the safest, cleanest and lowest cost operator in the harbour.
Early in 2016, a small team from Hatch joined the TraPac Automation Projects team, assisting the terminal operator with a portfolio of projects, including the commissioning and Go-Live of an automated on-dock rail system.
Like many processes typical at container terminals, on-dock rail involves numerous different components: machines (RMGs, horizontal transport), system solutions (TOS, planning system, crane supervisory control, onboard automation software, surveying), sensors (OCR, lasers), hardware and networking.
