APM Terminals has ordered Lift AGVs that can carry two containers at a time.

APM Terminals is looking for rail-mounted gantry cranes and ship-to-shore (STS) cranes for a new container terminal under construction at Maasvlakte II in the Port of Rotterdam, opening in November 2014.

Frank Tazelaar, managing director for APM Terminals Maasvlakte II, says APM terminal design engineers have studied ports worldwide and identified that container yard operations can be further optimised.

"We have designed the terminal to serve the largest container ships in the world with higher productivity and service-level consistency day-in, day-out, while operating in a safe, environmentally friendly way. Our estimates show we can deliver 25-50% productivity improvement results for our customers versus conventional terminal designs," Tazelaar says.

The terminal design concept is based on using STS cranes that unload containers from the vessel and place them directly onto a fleet of lift automated guided vehicles (Lift AGVs). The Lift AGVs can carry two containers at a time and shuttle them at a speed of 22 km/h (13.7 mph) from the quay to the container yard, using an onboard navigation system that follows a transponder grid.

Once the Lift AGV arrives at its programmed destination, it lifts the containers into a series of storage racks. Next, an automated rail-mounted gantry (ARMG) crane arrives to take the container from the rack to its next designated location, which could be to the rail terminal, a trucker or stacking it somewhere else in the container yard.

For the first phase of the Maasvlakte II terminal, the fleet will consist of 36 Lift AGVs, working with 128 storage racks.

According to APM Terminals, the ability to lift the container off the vehicle and place it into a storage rack system is a world-first. In the past, AGVs could not perform this action. The Lift AGV consists of two lift platforms, which are able to load and unload containers independently of each other.

After an extensive evaluation process, APM Terminals Maasvlakte II chose Lift AGVs built in Germany by Gottwald Port Technology, a subsidiary of Demag Cranes. The vendor selection of automated rail-mounted gantry cranes and STS cranes for Maasvlakte II is under way.