Taiwan: Evergreen Marine Corp. (EMC) held an official opening ceremony for the newly built Terminal 7 at Kaohsiung Port. With the vision of new opportunities for the port and the provision of substantial enhancements to trade, the smart terminal is expected to drive ongoing growth of shipping related industries within southern Taiwan.
The event was presided over by EMC’s Chairman, Y.I. Chang, and President, Eric Hsieh. A host of local government officials and distinguished guests were also in attendance.
As the first and largest fully-automated container terminal equipped with remote-controlled gantry cranes in Taiwan, Terminal 7 can significantly improve the efficiency of container handling operations. Over the long term, the terminal is expected to achieve an annual handling volume of 6.5 million teu.
In his remarks at the opening ceremony, EMC Chairman Y.I. Chang said, “In line with the trend of the international shipping industry and the operational demand of mega container ships, Evergreen consolidated the cargo handling services in Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 of Kaohsiung Port and moved the operations to the advanced Terminal 7, removing the trucking demand to haul containers between the two separate terminals and cutting carbon emissions from such transportation.
We made a significant investment in automatic and energy-saving equipment and also launched “Containerlink”, an online platform which improves service quality by integrating truck appointments for cargo delivery/pickup, container yard operation and digital payment systems.”
Chairman Chang added, “By building the new automatic quayside operations and the unmanned yard in Terminal 7, we are able to provide more efficient, eco-friendly service to our customers and offer better working environment for local employees, taking yet another step toward our goal of sustainable operations.”
Setting a goal to build a fully-automated container center, Evergreen has installed 24 STS gantry cranes, including 19 remote-controlled ones, 60 automated unmanned rail-mounted gantry cranes (ARMGC) and 24 smart gates in Terminal 7.
With the introduction of 5G communication systems, optical fiber connectivity, and Internet of Things (IoT) information networks covering the entire site, together with Evergreen’s intelligent terminal operating system (EMCTOS), optical character recognition (OCR) technology and real-time power consumption monitoring system, Evergreen can effectively coordinate port operations and improve the efficiency of container yard, making Terminal 7 of Kaohsiung Port one of the most advanced container hubs in the world.