‘The future of automated ports’, an online study by McKinsey & Company consulting firm, suggests that the port sector is underdeveloped regarding automation, in comparison other industries. The sector could consequently benefit from automation if it confronts the challenges with careful planning and implementation.
Even though ports have a gradual progression towards automation compared other sectors, like mining and warehousing, the pace is now starting to accelerate according to the study.
Safety on automated ports is improved compared with the existing conditions of the conventional ports. The number of human-related disruptions falls, and performance becomes more predictable.
However, the up-front capital expenditures are quite high, and the operational challenges like, shortage of capabilities, poor data, siloed operations, and difficulty handling exceptions, are very significant, as the study identifies.
In addition, the survey reveals that while operating expenses decline, so does productivity, and the returns on invested capital are currently lower than the industry norm.
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Furthermore, the study provides a detailed definition of the automated port. Automation has five components in ports, which can create value by implementing each component individually. Still, they can establish full benefit only if all five are integrated and coordinated.
These five components, which are extensively explained in the study, are:
- Automated equipment.
- Equipment-control systems.
- Terminal control tower.
- Human–machine interactions.
- Interactions with the port community.
On the face of it, container ports seem ideal places to automate. The physical environment is structured and predictable. Many activities are repetitive and straightforward. They generate vast amounts of readily collected and processed data. Better still, the value from automation includes not only cost savings but also performance and safety gains for ports and the companies that do business there.
The study suggests.
