Liebherr Container Cranes has handed over three fully automated rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) to the CSX Carolina Connector Intermodal Terminal (CCX) in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Liebherr Container Cranes said that the cabinless RMGs have been supplied with its Remote operator Stations (ROS) for supervised moves and exception handling.
The widespan Liebherr cranes have a span of 50.292 metres, a lift height over rail of 15.24 metres and cantilevered outreaches both sides with a safe working load of 40.6 tonnes.
Within the span, the machines will work five rail lines and a four-high, five-wide container stack, with a further two rail lines under one of the cantilevers, while truck handling will take place under the other cantilever in a dedicated truck transfer area.
Container handling on the stack is fully automated and in line with terminal safety procedures, picking and placing from the rail cars is carried out remotely using supervised moves, according to Liebherr, which noted that truck handling employs a combination of manual and supervised moves, while the RMGs will operate on both domestic 53’ wide top pick containers and ISO containers, handling single and double stacked rail cars.
The German port equipment manufacturer said that a 3D measurement system scans the operational area, continuously creating and updating profiles of container stacks, railcars and hazards, providing key data for path planning and automatic operation.
"The monitoring system of the automated cranes has been tailored to precise customer requirements and works seamlessly together with the Tideworks TOS through a customer-specific interface," pointed out Liebherr, while for safety reasons, a Yardeye system has been installed. This system monitors operational traffic, particularly pinmen vehicles in and around the RMG operational area allowing for safe operation.
Additionally, the new cranes bring emission-free container handling to CCX, including three dimensional stack and train profiling allowing optimal path planning and the most productive and efficient spreader path rather than the traditional approach of square moves.
"This approach increases productivity and throughput and also results in a further reduction of energy consumption," claims Liebherr, which noted that its drive system with active front end and simultaneous motion allows power usage to be optimised on the crane and regenerated energy fed back to the grid.
Meantime, Liebherr’s eight-rope-reeving system is inherently stable and ensures precise and faster final positioning times whilst the micro-motion controls ensure smooth remote driver operation when placing containers onto trucks, according to a statement.
