Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has announced the introduction of Automated Truck Handling (ATH) to its Kalmar AutoStrad™ offering.  ATH enables a fully automated container flow between quay cranes and trucks by automating the last stage of the landside operations – the final placement of containers onto road trucks. The feature is already available for Kalmar yard cranes and has now been added to Kalmar’s horizontal transportation offering.

The Kalmar AutoStrad is a proven solution for automating quay, stack and landside operations. It is ideal for medium-sized and large terminals where high equipment flexibility, safety and minimal labour costs are key requirements. The flexibility of the Kalmar AutoStrad offering makes realising an automated terminal simple, low-risk and achievable within a relatively short timeframe.

ATH automates the placement of containers from automated straddle carriers onto trucks in the terminal’s truck interchange zones. A Truck Lane Measurement System (TLMS) is used to measure the truck’s profile, location and the container positions available, while a camera imaging system is used for fine positioning when placing the container onto the truck. ATH improves the safety, predictability and cost-efficiency of terminal operations by eliminating the need for personnel to be present in the truck interchange zones.

“We are pleased to introduce this feature for our horizontal transportation offering. By automating the final step of landside operations in an AutoStrad terminal, we are now able to move people away from the truck interchange areas. This helps terminals improve their safety and provides flexibility by enabling 24/7 operations,” says Henrik Häggblom, VP, Horizontal Transportation Solutions, Kalmar.