Lessons from Reality on Automated Container Terminals: What Can Be Expected from Future Technological Developments?

Abstract

Automating container terminals is a consolidated trend in the port sector that is expected to grow. The main drivers for this growth are improving efficiency, reducing operating costs, remedying labor shortages, and increasing productivity. However, in practice there is no clear evidence confirming that automated terminals outperform conventional ones in handling productivity rates, cycle times, or vessel berthing times. Both the academic corpus and industry data show mixed results. Based on that, the goal of this article is to research productivity rates and factors affecting productivity, and understand to what extent future technological developments can enhance automated terminals. To do so, several sources of information are used and analyzed to shed light on the real productivity performance. The main conclusion gives no strong evidence linking automation with greater productivity, even though it might reduce terminal operators’ costs. In fact, in many instances, productivity is worse. Moreover, currently, semi-automated terminals are still preferred to fully automated terminals because of better handling times. However, it is expected that future technological developments will likely overcome the current issues faced by automated terminals, when a technological paradigm shift takes places.