ECT Delta Terminal

The Delta/Sea-Land Terminal showed that container yards could run with automated vehicles and cranes, an approach later adopted at terminals in Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. Unmanned automated guided vehicles carried boxes between quay cranes and the stacks, and automated stacking cranes stored and retrieved them, with staff supervising from control rooms. ECT had begun studying automation in 1983. The same building blocks, guided vehicles on set routes and computer-controlled storage cranes, now appear inside fulfillment centers. Importers using automated terminals such as those in Rotterdam, Los Angeles and Long Beach get steadier yard operations, though automation remains a contested labor issue at U.S. ports.

• Autonomous Mobile RobotAMRWarehouse robot that navigates on its own
• Automated Storage and Retrieval SystemAS/RSMachines that store and fetch totes or pallets
• Warehouse Control SystemWCSSoftware that runs conveyors and sorters

• First Automated Guided Vehicle1953 · A tractor follows a guide wire with no driver
• Port of Rotterdam as World's Busiest Port1962–2004 · Rotterdam leads the world in cargo for four decades
• Yangshan Deep-Water Port2005 · Shanghai builds deep berths on islands offshore

1. 30 years ago ECT opened the very first automated terminal in the world (Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam) ect.nl
2. From Digitalization to Data-Driven Decision Making in Container Terminals (arXiv) arxiv.org