ZURICH: Middle East ports including Bahrain’s Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) are ideally suited for transformation into automated and intelligent ports, Du Yeqing, vice-president of Huawei’s 5G Product Line, has said.
Speaking during the 2019 Globe Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF 2019) here, the official told the GDN that with 5G gearing up in the Middle East region, the road has been paved for a new communication solution for port equipment turning regional transportation hubs into smart ports.
The official was speaking after Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (ZPMC), Vodafone, China Mobile and Huawei jointly released a new 5G Smart Port white paper.
According to industry statistics, about 90 per cent of global trade relies on maritime transportation.
Traditional ports rely on human resources to operate container cranes under harsh working environments, with heavy labour intensity and insufficient personnel, Mr Yeqing said.
“As a result, the rapid development of global sea transportation cannot be met as required. Port automation and intelligent reconstruction have become the industry’s overarching goals.”
Based on experience from ZPMC and Huawei, improving container transfer efficiency is the main service requirement for ports, and rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) crane is the first priority scenario, says the report.
With large bandwidth capability of 5G, real-time transmission of high definition videos can be realised, and low latency can enable remote real-time control based on programmable logic controllers.
Operators can complete gantry crane operations (such as precise movement of cranes or lifting appliances and container pickup) remotely from the central control room, it adds.
Using 5G based solutions, one operator can control multiple gantry cranes while working in a comfortable environment, greatly improving working efficiency.
The report also says that 5G can provide convenient and low-cost wireless network connections for multiple applications, such as autonomous driving of automated guided vehicles (AGV) and Intelligent Guided Vehicle (IGV) video management in port.
In combination with edge computing and AI, 5G can help synchronise and co-ordinate port devices and production systems, improve the intelligence and operational efficiency.
“Huawei will work with ZPMC, Vodafone and China Mobile to develop more effective solutions for port customers leveraging technologies such as AI, cloud computing, big data and IoT,” the official said.
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