Failure of full automated terminals..


Failure of full automated terminals..
Maersk has spent billions of dollars on streamlining its port division with robot technology. Now it turns out that a large prestige project for 4 billion. DKK has had the exact opposite effect.

Mærsk's strategy of investing billions of dollars in new robots to speed up its port terminals creak in the foundation.

It has been found that fully automated terminals are far less productive than those that are fully staffed with port workers. There are serious doubts about APM Terminals' ability to streamline and improve profitability through robotics.
It is a myth that automated terminals can magically move more containers in less time. In fact, most actually end up being slower than a manual terminal, ”said Neil Davidson, port analyst at the marine research firm Drewry, and backed by a study by the McKinsey consulting group.
This also applies to Mærsk's state-of-the-art and fully automated port terminal Maasvlakte 2 for almost DKK 4 billion. kr.

The idea was otherwise that the terminal in Rotterdam as a large-scale pilot project should be the model for the future terminals in APM Terminals.
In 2015, the Group promised that the new terminal should provide customers with 40 per cent. increased productivity thanks to automation.
But Maasvlakte 2 only moves 25 containers per crane per hour from the ship to the port. In comparison, APM Terminal's second terminal in Rotterdam, APMTR, which is not automated, moves 30-33 containers per crane per hour according to the union and can reach as much as 40.
At the same time, more than 500 port workers have been hired in Maasvlakte 2 - twice as many as APM Terminals in their time expected to use.


Bart Defruyt

Comments

  1. But which has the greater profit margins? That's all people really care about.

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