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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

F-B-01: Logistics Management & Operations 7: Terminal and Station Infrastructure Design
Location: A-0.13

Presentation 2

Classification and Assessment of Automated Twistlock Handling Systems for Container Terminals

Rachit Shrivastava¹, Johann Bergmann¹, Susanne Schukraft², Dennis Keiser², Michael Freitag^2,3

1: Fraunhofer-Center für Maritime Logistik und Dienstleistungen CML, Blohmstraße 32, 21079 Hamburg, Germany; 2: BIBA – Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH at the University of Bremen, Hochschulring 20, 28359 Bremen, Germany; 3: University of Bremen, Faculty of Production Engineering, Badgasteiner Straße 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany

Twistlocks are mechanical locking devices to secure containers on vessels. They must be removed and installed during loading and unloading operations. Despite increasing automation in container terminals, twistlock handling is still done manually during port operations. The activity is time-consuming and poses significant occupational safety risks. Despite the obvious advantages that automated twistlock handling (ATS) promise, there are no comprehensive studies of ATS. As a result, twistlock handling remains a manual activity in the otherwise already highly automated functional area of waterside handling processes at container terminals. The paper is a part of the SIM-TWIST project (Project number: 19H24006B) funded by Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV) of Germany under IHATECH from Jan, 2025 till Dec, 2026.

This paper addresses the need for a systematic assessment of automated twistlock handling technologies at container terminals. First, an overview of existing and emerging approaches for automated twistlock handling systems is provided. Based on this overview, a classification scheme for ATS is developed. As a result, four ATS scenarios are derived based on the application area: On the crane ATS, under the crane ATS, drive-through ATS, and ATS in dedicated operation zones.

Second, the paper analyses how the application of ATS influences the terminal operations, specially on the waterside container handling process. It highlights the impacts of identified ATS technologies on the process cycle times through the synchronisation of crane and horizontal transport configurations, mapping different terminal design concepts, with the objective of improving productivity, a key performance indicator of the container terminals. Furthermore, different ATS scenarios place different demands on process design and resources. For example, regarding transport processes, transport capacities, quay crane capacities, and area capacities. These differences directly affect the entire port performance such as vessel turnaround times, terminal throughput and crane productivity.

As a result, the paper shows that discrete-event simulation is suitable for evaluating and quantifying the influence of ATS on terminal processes and for comparing different ATS scenarios. In this context, the paper presents a basic concept for developing a simulation environment for container terminal operations, including automated twistlock handling. The simulation environment focuses on processes required for vessel handling, including container storage and transportation, twistlock handling operations, and loading resp. unloading of vessels by crane. The environment allows simulation and comparison of the ATS scenarios mentioned above.