Since 2008 the GPA has been using IDENTEC SOLUTIONS CTAS process automation solutions to generate, manage and automate the asset location data that supports its Automated Terminal Asset Management System (ATAMS). These include RFID-based road truck identification and DGPS position detection for RTGs and terminal vehicles.

“Under ATAMS, street trucks calling at GPA’s Garden City Terminal (GCT) in Savannah are fitted with Identec Solutions’ active RFID tags, enabling trucks to be tracked in real-time as they enter, move around and exit the terminal. The system also optimises the container hand-off process between street trucks and yard cranes, automatically identifying and locating trucks as they pull up alongside cranes and ‘promoting’ the correct job to the top of the list on the RTG driver’s in-cab screen. GPA supplies RFID tags to the trucking community, with over 11,000 now fitted, linked to a web access portal to pre-advise container deliveries and collections” the company stated.    

GPA is installing the automated container hand-off and job promotion system on 30 new Konecranes RTGs and, for the first time, on 4 new Konecranes super-post-panamax quay cranes. “Key benefits of the system are increased crane productivity, quicker turn times for street trucks and internal terminal vehicles and improved worker safety, removing staff from the ground.  The project is due to be completed by late summer 2016” . 

The new cranes are part of the GPA’s strategy for managing its above average volume growth, which has continued in the double digits over the first part of 2015. “Without using technology to gather and action data in a more automated way, we couldn’t grow efficiently. RFID and GPS are key enabling components that dovetail very well to our strategic development plan,” said Curtis Foltz, GPA Executive Director.