Tuas mega port to be fully served by automated quay crane system

SINGAPORE — The sight of crane operators perched up high in their vehicle’s cabin as they move large containers around Singapore’s ports will be a thing of the past.

When the Tuas mega port is completed by 2040, it will use automated quay cranes which can be controlled remotely.

Port operator PSA has begun testing three automated quay cranes in a live operational environment at its Pasir Panjang Terminals since the first quarter of this year.

On Monday (July 23), Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan was given a demonstration of the automated quay crane system at the PSA’s Automated Crane Operations Centre at its Pasir Panjang premises.

Previously controlling the cranes from a cabin 17 storeys high, operators now run the automated ones behind computer screens at the centre, aided by sensors and cameras, and a console to manoeuvre the cranes.

Presently, the cranes’ “trolley” — where spreaders, which are used to lift containers, move between the wharf and the vessels — is automated, but operators need to lower the containers manually via a joystick.

Mr Eddy Ng, PSA’s managing director of Singapore Terminals 2 — which covers the Pasir Panjang Terminals — said the port operator intends to move towards “full automation”.

“But before we get there, we want to make sure that many of the sub-processes are robust. When we’re operating with heavy machinery and processes that entail working and interacting with humans, we need to be very careful about getting it right and getting it safe,” he said.

Quay cranes are used to unload containers from vessels that call at the port onto prime movers or automated guided vehicles, and also to load containers onto ships.

Ms Lee Mei Yan, 32, PSA’s principal mechanical engineer for the automated quay crane project, said that under the system, operators may have to adjust for inaccuracies in lowering and positioning the containers — for example, the crane’s spreader could be 10cm from a container. This hinges on sea conditions, which could result in vessels being further from where they should be.

“The current sensors we use are good enough, but not good enough to get the exact positions of the target containers,” she said. “So we’re using technologies to explore even better sensors (that are) more accurate to get to the correct position.”

The aim is to remove the need for operators to make adjustments, Ms Lee said.

Mr Ng said PSA has seen “good results” from better use of equipment, raising labour productivity by 20 to 25 per cent. The port operator, however, has not quantified the manpower savings which the automated quay crane system has brought so far and declined to reveal its target.

Noting the importance of getting its workers ready for the future, Mr Ng said all of its 500 to 600 operators will eventually be trained in the automated quay crane system. So far, 40 have been trained.

The automated system is expected to reduce the reliance on manpower.

On how this could affect the operators, Mr Ng reiterated that as PSA grows, “many of our existing staff will continue to take on added (and) new responsibilities, new tasks and new roles”.

In the first half of this year, PSA’s Singapore terminals handled a record 17.88 million containers, measured in twenty-foot equivalent units. This is an 11.8 per cent jump from the same period last year.

DEALING WITH CHANGE

Staff members who moved to the Pasir Panjang Terminals from its older city terminals — a process which happened over the last two years — did not face just a shift in environment, said Mr Ng.

“The job has changed, their friends will change… habits will have to change and the way they get to work will change, besides handling different kinds of machines or systems. The mindset and the mental capacity for change management are what I see to be the most important,” he added, acknowledging that this took much persuasion and relationship-building between the labour union, employees and management.

Operator Lee Poh Ann, 43, who has been with PSA as a container equipment specialist for 25 years, said it was challenging at first to transit to the automated system.

“We’ve to change from our view from the cabin itself to the LCD (liquid-crystal-display screens)… From the cabins, we could really feel the operating conditions, but here (in the centre), we can’t.”

Still, he pointed out that the automated system was better, as operators did not have to work under the blistering heat or wet weather. “We can operate comfortably in the office.”

PSA will give up its Pasir Panjang premises by 2040, when the Tuas mega port is completed.

The first berths of the new port are expected to be up in 2021, when the automated quay cranes are also expected to be deployed partly or wholly, said Mr Ng.

The move towards automated quay cranes comes amid reports in recent years of a sluggish supply of crane operators here — mainly affecting the construction industry.

Mr Alson Ang, manager of the Singapore Cranes Association, told TODAY that if the port operator’s objective was to cut manpower costs, there will be job losses so long as processes are automated.

“Not everybody is going to have a place for new roles, so what happens to that group of people? That’s the main concern that they have to address,” he said.

Still, Mr Ang acknowledged that it could be a win-win situation for PSA and its crane operators, if the company strikes a balance between trimming manpower costs and having “half-automated and half-manned” systems.

Responding to TODAY's queries on whether some crane operators would be made redundant with the technological improvements, a PSA corporate spokesperson said new jobs would be created as PSA Singapore adopts more automation and smart systems to “meet the growing business in the future”. The company said it would see a rise in automation-related and technical jobs moving ahead.

“Our staff, including the crane operators, will be offered the opportunity to be upskilled to take on these higher-value jobs in the control centre, such as automated equipment specialist and automation operations supervisor, and a range of new supporting roles,” the spokesperson added.

PSA also has a “comprehensive suite” of training and development programmes to ready its employees for the future, said the spokesperson. These include specific skills-training programmes, workshops to raise the “technology quotient” of its staff members for the future digital workplace, and a programme to cultivate an open mindset in embracing change.

“We will bring everyone along in this journey of change and transformation,” the spokesperson added.