In the morning of May 11, an automated driverless truck for containers delivered the containers for loading the Vessel COSCO SHIPPING ROSE next to the shore bridge No. 102 and collected containers unloaded from the vessel under the shore bridge No. 101. Driving all the way from the front of the wharf
to Jingyi Road, it automatically avoided obstacles on the road to enter the F1 yard, and completed a series of operations such as accurate positioning with the tire crane and unloading in the yard, smoothly completing the shiploading and unloading operation processes.

This marked that the first customised platform port jointly developed by COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd. and China Mobile (Shanghai) Information Communication Technology Co., Ltd. for driverless container truck has passed the trial run for actual production and operation, adding another constructive result to the construction of 5G smart ports!

China COSCO SHIPPING Corporation Limited, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. and Dongfeng Motor Corporation jointly held the “5G+ Driverless-enabled Smart Ports” Online Conference in six cities,
namely Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shiyan, Hong Kong and Xiamen, through China Mobile 5G+ online video conference system, witnessing the on site operation of driverless container trucks for ports.

Zhuang Jiahan, Deputy Secretary of Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Xiamen, Xu Lirong, Chairman of COSCO SHIPPING, Yang Jie, Chairman of China Mobile, and Zhu Yanfeng, Chairman of Dongfeng Corporation attended the conference and together witnessed the entering of implementation stage of the 5G smart port in Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal from the experimental stage.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports, COSCO SHIPPING Technology Co., Ltd and China Mobile (Shanghai) ICT jointly issued the Implementation Plan And Roadmap For 5G Smart Ports, which set out the definition and vision of 5G smart port construction, stipulated the general structure of the smart port as well as implemented the typical applications of 5G smart ports in stages.

By 2025, the coastal container hub ports aim to initially establish an intelligent system with comprehensive perception, ubiquitous interconnection, and port-vehicle collaboration, as proposed in the Guiding Opinions on Building Word-class Ports.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports, COSCO SHIPPING Technology, Xiamen Ocean Gate Container Terminal Co., Ltd., China Mobile (Shanghai) ICT, China Mobile Group Fujian Company Limited Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co.,
Ltd., and Shenzhen Yuanrong Qixing Technology Co., Ltd. jointly released the “White Paper on All Business Scenarios of the 5G Smart Ports Implementation”, in which the industry partners have, with reference to the current situation of Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal, built business scenarios of 5G smart port implementation based on the construction of 5G private network in the port area that combined with technologies such as edge computing, high-precision positioning, artificial intelligence and computer
vision. The successful practice of the model project undertaken at Xiamen Ocean Gate Terminal has fully demonstrated that 5G technology would inject new vitality to the development of port automation, digitisation and informatisation, and promote the intelligent upgrade and transformation of ports.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle and China Mobile (Shanghai) ICT jointly issued the joint enterprise standard of Performance And Test Methods For Driverless Truck For Containers In The Ports, which is the first standard of performance and test methods for driverless truck
for containers in the ports. The joint enterprise standard is divided into four sections, namely: driving scene and driving behavior requirements, wireless communication and information security requirements, vehicle function and performance technical requirements, vehicle testing and test methods. Each section contains scope of application of the standard, normal reference documents, terms and definitions of the standard and the specific technical performance requirements. Such standard is applicable to the development process of the intelligent network-connected automated system for driverless truck for containers in the ports, and has been approved by the Ministry of Communications and C-ITS Intelligent Transportation Industry Alliance for documentation.

COSCO SHIPPING Ports, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle and China Mobile (Shanghai) ICT signed a Letter of Intent for extending application at 5G+ smart port. The three parties of the cooperation actively responded to the development strategy of “National strength in transportation” by expanding “smart+” to enable the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, which further promoted the indepth integration of 5G technology and the construction of smart ports.

The research results presented at this conference provided an implementation plan for domestic and international 5G smart ports, which was a concrete action to accelerate the implementation of the “Broadband China” and “National strength in transportation” strategies and to promote the construction of new infrastructure. Especially with global efforts and measures to control the Coronavirus, it is important to promote industrial innovation through 5G and support the ports to fight against the Coronavirus, which is of practical significance and can serve as a reference to promote the resumption
of work and manufacturing.

As part of a global roll-out, APM Terminals Valencia, Spain has launched a new Virtual Private LTE provided by Telefonica Spain. LTE (network are a standards-based network that use dedicated radio equipment to service the terminals applications and services and can be tailored for more optimized performance such as low latency.

Industrial wireless connectivity has become a digital enabler for APM Terminals’ global initiatives such as the standardisation of Terminal Operating Systems, reporting and support; Asset Digitalization; and GPS based Position Detection Systems used for auto-locating containers in a yard. APM Terminals Valencia’s existing WiFi network was struggling to reliably handle increased data volumes demanded by this digital transformation, and a complete re-design was therefore needed.

The use of dedicated equipment allows it to be independent of traffic fluctuation in the wider network. “Stable and reliable industrial wireless infrastructure is critical for all automation and digitization efforts,“ explained Jack Michael Craig, Head of APM Terminals Global Technical. “The foreseeable trend is that the number of applications and use cases requiring wireless capabilities will increase at terminals,”

Data Encryption

A dedicated 4G Radio Access Network (RAN) was installed in the Terminal yard, integrating it with the existing Core (EPC) part of the public telecom infrastructure. An end-to-end IPSec Tunnel was used as an encryption mechanism to segregate APM Terminals data from general carrier data to ensure this wireless solution meets the company’s global security requirements. Telefonica Spain provided this solution with the 4G Licensed frequency spectrum they own within Spain.

In contrast to the old WIFI connectivity solution, the new 4G LTE connectivity solution was best suited to the terminal due to its ability to meet coverage and performance requirements with bigger cell size and limited infrastructure deployment at terminal.

Customer Benefits

Overall this is an optimized, standardized, cost effective, and security compliant Industrial Wireless connectivity solution at the Terminal to support APM Terminal’s global transformation with possibility to easily scale if there is growth in the terminal requirements. Ultimately customers will benefit from improved data, terminal efficiency and stability.

NSW Ports continues to invest in the creation of sustainable and efficient port supply chains with the construction of a new 2.4 hectare empty container park at Port Botany.

Located within the port on Simblist Road, the new empty container park is leased by Tyne Container Services and will operate 24/7, providing a full service facility when it opens in June 2020. It adjoins the existing Tyne (MT Movements) container park to effectively ‘super-size’ the site, delivering an additional 5,000 TEU in empty container capacity.

NSW Ports CEO Marika Calfas said the decision to utilise the port land for empty container storage will deliver much needed empty container capacity to support growth and efficiencies in the container supply chain.

“NSW is an import dominant container market, which can lead to high demand for empty container storage capacity during peak seasons. We continue to invest in Port Botany to ensure its ability to efficiently and sustainably cater for trade growth, and through this development we have optimised the utilisation of existing land to create an additional 5000 TEU in container storage capacity to enhance the productivity and efficiency of empty container movements,” she said.

Tyne Container Services Director, Aaron Powell said, “Through clever design and construction, we’ve been able to create further operational capacity and expand our ability to handle empty container volumes. The new empty container park will have capacity to handle both empty containers bound for overseas re-deployment as well as empty containers for re-use as full exports. This coordinated container movement means we can better service our shipping line customers and we look forward to commencing our new operations in June.”

Construction of the new empty container park was delivered by Ward Civil and took 4 months to complete.