Container-Shuttle

Feasibility study on the decarbonization and automation of container depots with unfavorable floor plan geometries

Duration 01/2024 to 09/2024

Research area: Logistics and factory planning

As part of the Container Shuttle project, a concept for improving the storage of empty tank containers at a logistics service provider in the Port of Hamburg is being developed together with the project partners BSPartner, Ernst Logistik and HIT.

Tank containers are used globally as standardized means of transport for liquids, especially in maritime shipping. Like other containers, they are temporarily stored in empty container warehouses between uses. Due to the diverse structure of companies active in maritime transportation and the resulting ownership structures, a variety of storage and retrieval concepts come into play in such warehouses. They are also accessed for accompanying processes, e.g. for cleaning the inside of tank containers. Existing warehouses are usually designed as floor block storage facilities and the containers are transported using reach stackers.

Due to the aforementioned special features of the storage of empty tank containers, relocation processes are particularly frequent, as not all storage locations can be reached without moving other containers, which reduces the overall efficiency of the storage system. Furthermore, there are some infrastructural constraints that mean that no new areas can be designated for container storage. This makes it necessary to increase the efficiency of existing warehouses.

In order to reduce access times and the number of necessary relocations, an automated and space-efficient storage system is being designed, which is based on existing automated storage systems. The aim is to improve the use of limited storage space. The technical concept is being developed by project partner BSPartner, while ITL is analyzing the overall concept in economic, logistical and ecological terms.