Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Transport Technology
B.L. Oudman and A. Schenkeveld Metingen aan de cyclustijden van containerkranen; een "second oppinion". Experiment, Rapport 96.3.LT.4758, Transport Technology.
Because the flow of containers across the world will keep on growing, the shipping companies are opting to build very large container carrying vessels. The CCT (Centrum Transporttechnologie) anticipated these developments and has started the FAMAS project. Within the framework of this project research has been started up to develop methods which can load and unload these very large vessels (8.000 TEU) in the shortest possible time (24 hours).
This research assignment is focused on measuring the cycle times of the existing container cranes, in order to see whether the existing terminals can accommodate the 8.000 TEU ships. This assignment also aims to determine whether and where the elimination of some of the larger disturbances will lead to big improvements of the cycle times.
The results of this assignment show that for a conventional ship the net unloading capacity of the existing container quay-cranes lies around 46 containers per hour in comparison to a net loading capacity of around 41 containers per hour. With these capacities it will be impossible to unload and load the 8.000 TEU ships within 24 hours. If the disturbances are taken into account these capacities are even lower. Reports on Transport Engineering (in Dutch)
