Conference Agenda

The ongoing shift toward containerization and the continuous increase in vessel sizes place growing demands on the design and dimensioning of container terminals. Worldwide, most container terminals use yard cranes to stack containers in the yard. The most common type are Rubber-Tired Gantry Cranes (RTGs) due to their flexible deployment within the yard and the comparatively high stacking density. Despite their widespread use, empirical knowledge on regional differences in RTG model preferences and storage block designs remains limited.

This study addresses this research gap by first providing an overview of the most frequently used container stacking equipment types in the Top 100 container ports worldwide using satellite imagery from Google Earth Pro. The results reveal significant regional disparities: While RTGs are used most frequently worldwide, rail-mounted gantry cranes and straddle carriers are also quite frequently used, especially in Northern Europe and North America, followed by specialized container stacking solutions and a combination of several equipment types. This context is essential for interpreting the subsequent analysis of design parameters.
In the next stage, it is investigated whether overarching design principles for RTG-based container terminals can be identified. The analysis is based on a comprehensive dataset of RTG-dominated container terminals across all nine global regions. The data collection relies on systematic measurements using Google Earth Pro and is complemented by vessel data from MarineTraffic to examine potential relationships between terminal design and vessel sizes. For each terminal, key parameters such as block lengths, crane spans, lifting heights, terminal sizes, and the lengths of calling vessels are collected and consolidated into comparable metrics. The findings indicate that, despite these regional differences, consistent and globally prevalent patterns exist in the dimensioning of RTG terminals, particularly regarding block lengths and crane spans. These patterns suggest the presence of established design principles that extend beyond individual regions. At the same time, no direct relationship can be identified between vessel size and block length. Instead, stable ratio-based relationships between these variables emerge, pointing to a relative scaling logic in terminal design.

Overall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the global design logic of RTG terminals and provides an empirical basis for planning, benchmarking, and optimization in terminal management. It also highlights the limitations of simplified planning assumptions and identifies avenues for further research, particularly regarding the integration of throughput and capacity-related metrics.