Automated Container Crane of Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding,

[bill937ca]

From Railway News Weekly comes an article on the automated container crane by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding.

http://news.mynavi.jp/series/railwaynews/048/

This is machine translated text.  See the original for photos of the cranes and the remote control room.

The topic of cargo train this time. On December 7, Mitsui zaibatsu announced that it handed out three automated container cranes for railway yards to the port of Los Angeles. It is a gate type crane used to transfer from a container ship to a railroad. What is the background behind such devices? Can you introduce it in Japan? If the topic Siberian Railway Hokkaido extension plan is realized, I think that this should be used.

 

An automated container crane for railway yards is a device for loading or unloading marine transport containers into railway freight cars. It functions as a system that bridges containers between ships and cargo trains. In Los Angeles, a railway line is directly connected to a container port, and a container is delivered from a ship to a freight train. Los Angeles Port is the first automated terminal on the west coast of the United States as automated container terminals are being constructed from around the world since the 1990s.

The movement of the container inside the container terminal looks like this. Maritime containers arriving at the port with container-dedicated vessels are first picked up by a quay crane and placed on an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle System). AGV automatically drives in the container terminal unattended and heads to the specified place.

When the AGV arrives at the side of the railway indwelling line, the automated container crane for the railroad yard pulls up the container and loads it into the freight car. When transferring a container from a railroad to a ship, this is the opposite route. All of these are done automatically by reading the electronic tags installed in the container. Only in the Container Terminal workers who confirm safety. Monitoring work and instructing the shipment are done in the remote control room.

 

Until then, it was transferred from the quay container to the trailer truck for the terminal premises, the driver transported it to the destination of the container, handed over to the truck, cabinet and yard crane of the railroad. It was inefficient because they were operating independently on a slip basis.

Automated terminals using AGV have various merits such as high speed transportation, improved safety, reduced delivery errors, low cost by reducing loading workers, and prevention of injuries. An automated container crane for railway yards is added here, and consistent automation of shipping and railway container movement is realized. "Double stack" which stacks containers in two tiers on freight wagons is also supported.

The reason why the task of "handling containers smoothly by ship and railroad" is emphasized in the United States is not limited to the United States, because the cargo train is used as a sense of "ship of land" for continental countries.

In continental countries such as the United States and Europe, there are large cities in the inland area, so they can not be reached by ships. Long-distance transport is inefficient in trailer trucks. Therefore, the transportation capacity and low cost of freight trains are required. Meanwhile, in Japan, many of the big cities are on the coast and arrive at the destination as soon as you board a trailer truck from a container ship. Therefore, railway tracks are adjacent to the container terminal of the harbor, and there are few cases of transporting to distant places.

Even so, JR cargo carries container transportation of ISO standard from the Tokyo cargo terminal station to the Tohoku area and Nagoya, Kobe, Fukuoka. Since the Tokyo Currency Terminal Station is adjacent to the Ohi Pier Container Terminal, if you extend the track toward Oi's Wharf, you can expect to improve efficiency by using an automated container crane for railway yards.

Given the expectation of practical application, another one. Currently, as Russia and Japan will promote economic cooperation, it is probably the "Siberian railway extension of Hokkaido" proposed by the Russian side. Even if the Russian side rail arrives at Wakkanai, the train can not be driven directly because the standard of the railway is different. Since both Russia and Japan have their own network, it is difficult to standardize according to either.

 

Therefore, it is necessary to line up the Russian railway and the Japanese railway line in Wakkanai, and to change shipping container in the same way. JR freight uses a fork lift for a small container and a top lifter for a large container when transferring railway containers. I thought it was somewhat troublesome work, but if you have an automated container crane for railway yards like Mitsui zaibatsu, this work could speed up.

[miyakoji]

I do tech work so I read a lot of tech news, I think I see an article about once a week about some startup working on automating some occupation.  Today for example, it's self-driving Uber cars in San Francisco.  They've been in Pittsburgh for a while now.  Yeah, they still have a person sitting there, just in case.  But for how long?  Also, Bill what translation site did you use for that article?  Did you clean it up at all?  It's reads fairly smoothly.  No person needed?

[bill937ca]

I do tech work so I read a lot of tech news, I think I see an article about once a week about some startup working on automating some occupation.  Today for example, it's self-driving Uber cars in San Francisco.  They've been in Pittsburgh for a while now.  Yeah, they still have a person sitting there, just in case.  But for how long?  Also, Bill what translation site did you use for that article?  Did you clean it up at all?  It's reads fairly smoothly.  No person needed?

 

I used Google Translate in Google Chrome. You need a person to right click!   :icon_biggrin:  Nissan recently started using driver-less trucks in their Japanese plants. It's coming.....

 

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201612050054.html

Edited December 15, 2016 by bill937ca

[Kiha66]

For a box boat (container ship) sailor this is horrible news, without longshoremen to go on strike/ work slowdown every few weeks, how will we we ever find time to visit the bar?  :D

[Kabutoni]

I used Google Translate in Google Chrome. You need a person to right click!   :icon_biggrin:  Nissan recently started using driver-less trucks in their Japanese plants. It's coming.....

 

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201612050054.html

 

 

Nissan is one of the front-runners in self-driving technology and has already incorporated it in some of their newest vehicles. It's a very basic version of is that moves the car by itself in slow traffic as a kind of cruise-control. Instead of immediately releasing this technology, Nissan has decided to do it gradually, so people can get used to it and the little quirks can get filtered out. If I ask my wife about it, most of the time I just get a "that's confidential" out of her. Maybe that's for the best xD

[medusa]

"Siberian railway extension of Hokkaido"

 

-- that's interesting. One of the many "what if"s I think about from time to time is, how to get a direct rail connection to Japan for my Orient Express '88. I mean, the real OE 88 drove Paris-Hongkong and then the cars were shipped over to Hiroshima. A direct connection Paris-Tokio would be much better in my Dreamworld. ;)

Different rail widths (Russia 1520mm vs. Japan 1067mm) would be no problem since the original OE had to change bogies three times on its 1988 run.

 

So, only Bering strait tunnel left as wishful thinking... :D

[Kabutoni]

"Siberian railway extension of Hokkaido"

 

-- that's interesting. One of the many "what if"s I think about from time to time is, how to get a direct rail connection to Japan for my Orient Express '88. I mean, the real OE 88 drove Paris-Hongkong and then the cars were shipped over to Hiroshima. A direct connection Paris-Tokio would be much better in my Dreamworld. ;)

Different rail widths (Russia 1520mm vs. Japan 1067mm) would be no problem since the original OE had to change bogies three times on its 1988 run.

 

The break of gauge would be the least of the problems. Japan and Russia are still officially at war with each other, since they never signed a peace treaty in 1945. There are severe disputes over the Chishima Islands, as well as Russia has recently installed anti-ship missile installations on those islands to deter Japanese fishing boats. However, returning these islands to Japan (at the moment there are talks going on), might resolve the 1945 issue and bring closer economic ties. Especially the impending future retreat of USA interest in Japan interference (both economically and militarily) under the president-elect will push Japan to have closer ties with other neighbours (China, Russia, S.-Korea, Australia, and other S.E. Asian countries).

[medusa]

Yes, I know about the Kurilen islands. I hope they get somewhat closer if developing economic bonds.