Port operators cannot justify having their own extensive engineering and development resources in the future, Antti Kaunonen, president of Finland-headquartered Kalmar, has stated.

He said the container shipping industry is more than ten years behind other industries and the general trend in other sectors has been to outsource engineering and development resources to suppliers.

“Trusted suppliers will deliver industry-wide, proven standard solutions with minimised costs and improved quality,” Mr Kaunonen said. “In the future, negotiations will focus on guaranteed performance and availability instead of technical details like today.”

Mr Kaunonen said one of the most important factors holding back the container shipping industry today is the lack of global commercial standards for terminal automation.

He added that since terminals are largely custom-built, it hasn’t been possible to reuse proven solutions and benefit from economies of scale. Secondly, it has taken longer to reach optimum performance for the automated terminal as each solution requires a separate development process.

Underestimating the importance and complexity of system integration is the principal reason for start-up difficulties at automated terminals, he stressed, adding that facilitating the development of basic standards for terminal automation must be a joint effort.

Mr Kaunonen said: “I call for similar co-operation to our industry that has been accomplished in the airline industry to define their own requirements to suppliers.”

In terms of building an efficient and integrated automated terminal, Mr Kaunonen said developers need to consider addressing what type of wireless networking should be provided; what kind of navigation system be used; which set of occupational safety guidelines need to be followed; and what kind of IT security requirements are there.

Source: Port Strategy