Xinhua News Agency, Qingdao, December 29 (Zhang Xudong, reporter of Xinhua News Agency reporter)

In October 2013, Qingdao Port of Shandong Port Group organized an automatic dock project team led by Zhang Liangang. Due to foreign technological blockade, they had to face the coastline and a piece of land to be leveled.

In December 2020, the automatic dock of Qingdao Port of Shandong Port achieved a single crane operating efficiency of 47.6 units/hour in the operation of the container ship named “PUTNAM”, refreshing the world record for the single crane operating efficiency of the automatic dock for the sixth time.

They are the pioneers of China’s smart port.

Refuse sky-high price and build China’s automatic dock

Fully automatic docks represent the high-end form of port container loading. China occupies seven of the world’s top ten container ports, but remains unknown on the list of automatic docks because facilities and core technologies have been monopolized by western countries for a long time.

After deciding to build an automatic dock at Qingdao Port in 2013, this important task was entrusted to Zhang Liangang, deputy general manager of Qingdao Port International Co., Ltd., a veteran with more than 30 years of experience in dock management, equipment management and scientific, and technological innovation.

With an open-minded attitude of asking for advice, Zhang Liangang led the team members to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain to learn their experience. However, their foreign counterparts were secretive about their technology, and the project team suffered a lot from technical barriers.

“We were not allowed to get off the car or take photos. We could only wait and see from a distance. They did not provide any data and technical specifications. Every one of us was very angry at that time.” Said Li Yongcui, a member of the project team.

Foreign counterparts only suggested Zhang Liangang buy their technology at a sky-high price.

This suggestion was rejected by Zhang Liangang, not only because of the high cost and the long cycle but also because their core technology was not open to Qingdao Port. Therefore, Qingdao Port could not optimize the system according to its actual production after the dock was put into operation.

“Each port has its characteristics, and we cannot just copy from others.” Zhang Liangang said, “We have to build our own automatic dock based on the actual situation of Qingdao Port, the structure of the cargo sources, the dock operation procedures, and the operation habits.”

Design “Chinese brain” for automatic dock through independent innovation

In the beginning, the project team had no experience, no information, and no foreign aid. “We had no idea about what equipment to use, how to layout, how to control the operation, and what problems there will be after operation. We had to design all the details one by one.” Li Yongcui said.

In the cycle of starting over after a failure, the outline of the automatic dock was shaped bit by bit on the drawings of Liangang’s team. They designed more than 40 draft plans just for the entrance and exit of container trucks. Even they finalized the plan sometimes, they had to recalculate all data because of a detailed adjustment.

After working hard day and night, Liangang’s team completed the design of the dock in just 15 months, which would take at least three years abroad.

In terms of dock construction and equipment research and development, Liangang’s team also started from scratch and intended to design a better dock than foreign automatic docks. Taking the automatic guided vehicle (AGV) as an example, Liangang’s team broke the global monopoly of lead-acid battery technology and developed a small-capacity, long-life, high-power power system and a cyclic charging mode based on lithium titanate batteries. The weight of the AGV battery was reduced from 13 tons to 2 tons, and the service life was extended from 2 years to 10 years.

Liangang’s team has solved worldwide technical problems through independent innovation and builds the automatic dock of “Chinese brain”:

The innovative one-key anchoring automatic windproof technology and system has solved the worldwide problem of preventing instant gale for large-scale port machinery;

Technologies such as the Internet of things perception, communication navigation, cloud computing are adopted to realize the intelligent scheduling and intelligent and efficient management of the whole process of dock operation;

……

The automatic dock of Qingdao Port has 107 accepted and authorized patents, including 64 invention patents and 43 utility model patents.

Become the leader of smart docks

On May 11, 2017, the automatic dock of Qingdao Port opened for operation. In the operation of the container ship named “COSCO FRANCE”, the single crane operating efficiency reached 26.1 units/hour, while the foreign dock with the single crane operating efficiency of 25 units/hour must be opened for at least one year.

Since then, Liangang’s team has continued to improve the functions and operation procedures of the dock to improve operating efficiency. On December 3, 2017, they set a new record of 39.6 units/hour in single machine operating efficiency during the operation of the container ship named “ZIM CHICAGO”, marking that the single machine operating efficiency of the automatic dock of Qingdao Port has completely surpassed the manual dock.

This December, the automatic dock of Qingdao Port of Shandong Port achieved a single crane operating efficiency of 47.6 units/hour in the operation of the container ship named “PUTNAM”, refreshing the world record for the single crane operating efficiency of the automatic dock for the sixth time.

In the construction of the second phase of the project, Liangang’s team members continued to break through themselves. They independently developed hydrogen fuel cell packs to provide power for automatic rail cranes, which reduced the weight of the equipment by about 10 tons, reduced the complexity of the equipment structure, equipment maintenance costs, improved power generation efficiency, and achieved zero emissions.

“The fully automated terminal is not exclusive to Westerners. Chinese can do the same as they do and even do better!” Zhang Liangang said.