Negative impacts on crane productivity - A case study in APM Terminals Gothenburg

Abstract

The increased amount of cargo transported by container vessels require port terminals to have efficient cargo handling. A port terminal needs to be efficient in order to attract and keep customers, hence the productivity in the terminal is important. Loading and discharging operations on container vessels are performed with cranes and the working pace of the cranes are referred to as crane productivity. This thesis investigates what factors a crane operator experiences as difficult and time consuming during cargo operations. The results are that obstructed view are considered as the major issue. The crane operators need to operate behind stacks of containers on board, referred to as Manhattan Stowage. Crane operators consider this as a factor lowering the crane productivity. This is strengthened by the vessel planners who agree and according to them, this issue can be dealt with by taking this into consideration when making the stowage plan at the shipping line. If crane operators can work with unobstructed view, the crane productivity would increase and loading Layer-by-Layer would be an alternative. However, the interviewed shipping line argued that doing so will have negative consequences as a result which makes it not likely to implement. Alternative solutions could be to leave an empty row behind the stack to help the crane operators since they agree on leaving an empty row would give them better conditions.