TopView –Spreader OCR

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Visy Oy’s John Lund explains how spreaderOCR will save time and money and greatlyreduce the risk of operational errors.

ontainer terminal operators are responsible for the safe movement and storage of boxes on their premises.

A critical part of performing terminal operations is the ability to account for abox’s location and condition while under theterminal’s care. Indeed, a terminal is a precarious place to work and a lot can gowrong in daily operations. Each time a box ismoved it is at risk of getting damaged or lost.Perhaps an incorrect box is lifted off a shipand put into a stack, or a box arrives with aroof leak and the contents are destroyedduring a rain storm, or a box unintentionallyleaves the terminal and is lost forever.The listof potential mishaps is long and each site hasits specific pain points, but fortunately, theuse of technology helps to mitigate thosevulnerabilities. Optical character recognition(OCR) for container code ID is an establishedtechnology for container terminals. For morethan 20 years OCR camera systems have beenused for gate operations to identify boxesand record their condition as they enter or exit a terminal via the quay, gate, or railhead.Vision technology helps terminals moveboxes more efficiently.With the use of OCR,

operators will save time and money on everytransaction, increase throughput capacity, andoptimise safety and security. OCR itself is asoftware-based, data collection tool thatallows operators to automatically identify abox at OCR checkpoints (such as gates andcranes).The information and images capturedby the systems also allow operators to perform damage inspection processes andmark the date and time of the movements,among other features.All this information isused in real time for live operations and is

saved in databases for historical purposes.Visy Oy (Visy) from Finland, a leading OCRprovider, has pioneered a new applicationcalled TopView that allows operators to placeOCR camera systems on spreaders.TopViewcaptures box ID’s, records the condition ofthe roofs, and allows every spreader on aterminal to function as an OCR checkpoint toenhance operations.With OCR as an optionon all container handling equipment (CHE),drivers will no longer have to manually enterbox ID’s into RDT’s and work order completionwill be automatically updated to the TOS.Much like OCR at the gate, spreader OCRwill save time and money on each transactionand greatly reduce the risk of operational errors.

The vast majority of container moves areexecuted by CHE fitted with a spreader. CHEof all types move boxes to and from ships, onand off trucks and trains, and around the yard.Each time a box is moved, the operatorrequires a plan for, and verification of, themovement.This data is often in the terminaloperating system (TOS) for inventory management.These planning and verificationsteps are critical for all box movements. Oftenthe verification process is manual, which iserror prone and time consuming. In otheroperations, a position detection system (PDS),featuring such technologies as RFID and DGPS,is used.While a PDS will greatly increase visibility, these systems are also error proneand often require manual intervention. Oncea PDS error occurs in a stack, the inventoryerrors are quickly exacerbated on each subsequent move due to the discrepancybetween the actual box location and what the TOS believes to be true. Incorrect boxes

OCR on spreaders

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TopView –Spreader OCR

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are shuffled around, the TOS is given incorrectinformation, and inevitably the stack’s integrityis severely compromised. Furthermore, PDSis typically not helpful in identifying exact boxlocations and ID’s in container heaps. By placing an OCR camera system on thespreaders of cranes and other CHE, the boxnumber can be read before the box is pickedup.The automatic identification of the boxbefore a pick allows the system to verify thatit is in fact the correct box for the work order.If TopView identifies an incorrect box relativeto a work order, the operator will receive analert and the incorrect move will be avoided.If TopView identifies a correct box relative toa work order, the pick will be verified andsent to the TOS or PDS system and the jobwill be marked as “in progress.” TopView alsoprovides the operator with a thorough recordof which box was moved by which CHE anddriver, complete with a date and time stamp.

In terminals with a PDS, the two systems worktogether to ensure 100% correct automation.Furthermore, the camera system will providephotographic evidence of the move and thecondition of the roof for historical purposes.Each spreader that comes in contact with abox creates the opportunity for a virtualcheckpoint using OCR.This includes thespreaders on STS cranes, RTGs,ASCs, straddlecarriers, reachstackers, top-picks, and mobileharbour cranes.Any time on the yard that abox is lifted, the system will automaticallyidentify the box that it is moving using visiontechnology. For example, if an ASC or RTGblock is undergoing a shuffling operation, theOCR system will identify each box that isbeing moved and verify it against the TOSinventory. If there is a discrepancy in a box’slocation, the OCR system will alert the operator to validate or correct the box IDor its position. Because the system uses

cameras, the operator can verify the boxsimply by looking at an image on a computerscreen, even in a remote location.This constantstack verification procedure eliminates theneed to stop operations for inventory moves(i.e. manual stack verification), a process thatis expensive, timely, and poses massive safetyrisks to personnel in the yard. Furthermore,by having OCR on the spreaders in the blocks,operators can automatically verify that thecorrect box is going into the correct blockbefore the box is even lifted.

All spreader types can be fitted with TopViewand therefore allow box ID’s to be read fromthe roof.This includes single, tandem, twin,and even quad operations. Each spreader isequipped with multiple cameras (the actualnumber is dependent upon the spreader configuration) and a control box.The control

box is linked to a standard PC in the E-Houseof the crane which contains the OCR softwareand communicates with the PLC.The PC collects the images from the cameras andprocesses the OCR for the box ID’s.The craneoperator can access the OCR information inreal time and the data is sent to other systems(such as the TOS or PDS) as required. Sparespreaders can also be equipped with TopViewso that when a spreader is replaced, the system is easily calibrated and operations willresume as normal.TopView’s OCR softwareis similar to that which is used at the gatesand other terminal locations. It will verify acontainer code’s check digit and other information. Spreader OCR is particularlyeffective in that ISO boxes are (generally)marked with the box ID in two locations onthe roof which allows the camera system tocapture both sets of numbers and deliver ahigh OCR read rate. Even if both sets of

numbers are damaged, the OCR algorithmmay be able to “fill in the blanks” and produce a correct read. In some situations,particularly with reachstackers and mobileharbour cranes, an additional camera can befixed to the spreader to capture the container codes from the long side of thebox.This means that the system will capturethree sets of containers codes and producehigh OCR results and therefore high levelsof cost-effective automation.

Within the last 10 years OCR for ship-to-shore (STS) crane operations hasbeen shown to produce a solid ROI for terminal operators. In many ways, quaysideoperations are the same as landside gateoperations and in effect there is a “quay-gate.” If a damage inspection image of the roof is required at the landside gate,it should also be required on the quayside.If >99% OCR accuracy is required at thelandside gate, it should also be required onthe quayside.When combined with othercameras in a quay crane OCR system, thespreader camera provides a damage inspection picture of the box’s roof andensures close to 100% correct containercode identification, just like in gate operations.TopView fills the imaging gapthat traditional STS OCR systems face onthe quay. It allows for all sides of the box to be evidenced for damage inspection purposes and maximises the probability of acorrect OCR read.Additionally, the box IDcan be read before the pick happens. So justlike in other CHE operations,TopView canwarn the STS operator if an incorrect boxis about to be lifted.These benefits areachieved without hindering the STS cranesin their normal operation.

TopView spreader OCR will dramaticallyimprove STS crane OCR results and automate work orders on CHE thereforesaving time and reducing costs on everytransaction.The technology is applicable toany spreader, regardless of the spreader’smanufacturer or configuration. By using eachspreader on a container terminal as a datacollection point, boxes will never get lostand routine activities such as inventorymoves will never again be necessary.Spreader OCR provides real-time data collection and automation of all box movements and prevents mistakes beforethey become serious problems.

The technologyImpact on the quay

Conclusion

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