DP World and materials-handling firm AMOVA have signed an agreement to develop a rack-storage system for shipping containers at Jebel Ali Terminal. Instead of stacking containers directly on top of each other, the system places each container in an individual compartment
within an eleven-story-tall steel rack. This method creates three times the capacity of a conventional container terminal of
equivalent size. . As an added benefit, the rack carries the weight of the upper containers in the stack, so a container towards the bottom can
be accessed without restacking all the boxes on top of it first. This means that container moves will be tightly focused on transferring the cargo in and out, not shuffling it within the terminal. DP World anticipates large gains in speed, energy efficiency and safety. It will also boost ability to handle peak loads: the firm expects that the system will shorten the time taken to load and unload mega-ships by as much as 30 percent. This is a key consideration for handling ever-growing ULCVs, which deliver high numbers of containers in short periods of time.
Thanks to the rack’s design each container can be accessed without having to move another one, enabling 100 percent utilization in a terminal yard. The system brings big gains in speed, energy efficiency, better safety and a major reduction in costs. Costs are further cut by the ability to shorten the time taken to load and unload mega-ships by as much as 30 percent.