Evergreen Marine Corp. (EMC) held an opening ceremony for Taiwan's first fully-automated terminal, Terminal 7, at Kaohsiung Port.
The event was presided over by EMC’s Chairman, Y.I. Chang, and President, Eric Hsieh. A host of local government officials and distinguished guests were also in attendance.
Evergreen Marine has worked closely with Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) to develop Terminal 7.
The new facility is considered to be the most important project that Taiwan’s shipping industry has undertaken in recent years.
TIPC was responsible for the construction of the port infrastructure while Evergreen invested in operating system and handling equipment such as ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes, automated rail-mounted gantry cranes (ARMGC), reach stackers and side loaders.
In line with the trend of the global container shipping industry and the operation demands of mega container ships, Terminal 7 is equipped with 5 berths with a draft of 18 meters, a quay length of 2,415 meters, and 24 STS gantry cranes, including 19 remote-controlled ones.
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Among them, 16 gantry cranes are 55.5 meters high and can handle ultra-large container ships with 25 rows of containers on deck, effectively improving the quayside operation efficiency.
The five berths of Terminal 7 will be inaugurated in two phases.
Currently, Berth S5, S4 and S3B have become operational while Berth S1, S2 and S3A are scheduled to commence operations during July 2024.
As the first and largest fully-automated container terminal equipped with remote-controlled gantry cranes in Taiwan, Terminal 7 can significantly improve the efficiency of container handling operations.
Over the long term, the terminal is expected to achieve an annual handling volume of 6.5 million TEU.
In his remarks at the opening ceremony, EMC Chairman Y.I. Chang said: “We made a significant investment in automatic and energy-saving equipment and also launched "Containerlink", an online platform which improves service quality by integrating truck appointments for cargo delivery/pickup, container yard operation and digital payment systems.”
Setting a goal to build a fully-automated container center, Evergreen has installed 24 STS gantry cranes, including 19 remote-controlled ones, 60 automated unmanned rail-mounted gantry cranes (ARMGC) and 24 smart gates in Terminal 7.
With the introduction of 5G communication systems, optical fiber connectivity, and Internet of Things (IoT) information networks covering the entire site.
Together with Evergreen's intelligent terminal operating system (EMCTOS), optical character recognition (OCR) technology and real-time power consumption monitoring system, Evergreen can effectively coordinate port operations and improve the efficiency of container yard.
Thus making Terminal 7 of Kaohsiung Port one of the most advanced container hubs in the world.
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