Digital Tire Monitoring at Smart Ports

Whether clothes, spare parts for cars, or electronic devices, ports have always been important hubs in international supply chains for all sorts of goods worldwide. Their smooth transport is imperative. That is why port logistics are operating non-stop: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The port of Rotterdam, the biggest port in Europe, for example, counts with a yearly turnover of over 14 million containers – indicating an upward trend. This development has a significant influence on the ports’ role in material handling processes. Whereas the geographical location was the utmost factor during the past years, speed, efficiency, reliability, and the connectivity of material flows are becoming increasingly important and pose a major challenge to the ports of the future – a challenge Continental is happy to take on by developing tailor-made solutions for both onshore and offshore.

The Ports of Today Under Pressure: Increasing Demand and Shrinking Space

Due to the enormous developments in global trade, maritime logistics chains are under extreme pressure. The need for transformation is undeniable: On the one hand, we observe an increasing demand for sea transport. On the other hand, the space for storage at ports is highly limited. To overcome this issue, ports must find new ways on how to deal with higher cargo throughput given the same limited space. This aspect underlines the port logistics’ general need for more efficiency of processes, vehicles, and other tools.

These tools also include the vehicles’ tires operators must always rely on despite the extreme conditions they are dealing with. Short stop-start movements with frequent rotations on the spot or different ground and weather conditions can affect the tires’ performance and pose a serious problem for vehicles’ safety in daily operations. But also, downtimes due to punctures entail serious costs for fleet managers. Besides, port vehicles have an influence on the carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) at harbors: wear, the loss of pressure, or overheated tires lead to higher fuel consumption which negatively affects the carbon footprint. And this is where Continental follows up upon with its digital tire monitoring technology for the ports of tomorrow.

The Ports of Tomorrow: 5 Key Challenges

Technology is a driving factor in the port business. The port of the year 2030 is highly digitized and uses smart solutions to save time, money, and resources by collecting real-time data. With its digital tire monitoring solution, Continental already made a major contribution to realizing that vision. But there is still a long way to go, especially considering the five major challenges Continental anticipates along the way:

• Scale: The port business will continue to increase which is why we need smart solutions that provide us with alternatives on how to deal with higher cargo throughput at the same limited space.
• Speed: To remain competitive these solutions must also keep up the speed by optimizing the efficiency of processes, vehicles, and tools.
• Safety: Despite the increased speed and cargo volume, safety must be paramount. Operators must always be able to rely on the machinery in use despite the challenging conditions.
• Sustainability: Since ports are responsible for high amounts of CO₂ emissions, we must find new ways on how to minimize them. But also ensuring a long livelihood of products or being able to reuse materials are important aspects to consider.
• Smartness: Digitalization is and will be an integral part of the port business which is why smart connectivity must always be a key component during the development process of any new solution.

As one can see, the vision of smart ports is within reach, but the future still holds some challenges to overcome first. Let’s shape the future of smart ports together. We are looking forward to a fruitful exchange with you!