First ship makes trial call at Shanghai's next automated terminal
A trial berthing at Xiaoyangshan North starts crane tests at a terminal Shanghai International Port Group says will run fully automated and all-electric.
Late last month, a container ship finished tying up at the western end of Xiaoyangshan North, a new container terminal at Shanghai's Yangshan port. It was a trial, and the ship is staying to help test the quay cranes, the rail-mounted yard cranes and the stacking yard, according to CNSS (海事服务网).
The terminal is designed for fully automated handling. Song Xiaodong (宋晓东), president of Shanghai International Port Group (上港集团), said in July that it will be Shanghai port's third automated terminal, with fully automated loading and unloading, equipment made entirely in China and all-electric drives, Xinhua (新华网) reported.
Five quay cranes are on site for the first section, nine rail-mounted yard cranes are being commissioned and 11 more are on the way. That first section, about 840 meters of quay, is due to start operating by the end of 2026; the rest is due around 2032.
Fully built, Xiaoyangshan North will have 22 container berths along 6,100 meters of quay and capacity for 11.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year. A linked project will run Yangshan's north and south sides, totalling 14 kilometers of quay, as one port area with capacity for more than 40 million TEUs a year.
Sources: 海事服务网 CNSS, 新华网 Xinhua
Editor: Ian Lamont
