INFORM, provider of intelligent decision-making software solutions, and Hamburg Port Consulting GMBH (HPC), specialist in consultancy at container terminals, have, with their software TERMINALSTAR, made a significant contribution to the flawless and speedy handling of the container ship “CMA CGM Christophe Colomb” at Hamburg Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). With a slot capacity of 13,800 TEU and a length of 365 metres, the French shipping company CMA CGM’s flagship is the largest ship that Hamburg Port has ever handled. At berth number 2 of the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB), specially built for the handling of these types of ships, TERMINALSTAR ensures seamless logistics processing.
Via the optimised running of up to seven quay cranes and 25 straddle carriers, the Christophe Colomb could be cleared within its deadlines. Around 3500 containers were handled in just 24 hours.
“With the handling of the Christophe Colomb, the TERMINALSTAR software system has successfully mastered the biggest challenge so far," says Udo Niessen, Logistics SVP at INFORM. Within the scope of the new service FAL5 (FAL = French Asian Line), as from August, once a week, one of the largest container ships will dock at Hamburg Port. TERMINALSTAR manages the logistics processes during the loading and unloading of these ships. The system hereby optimises container handling in real-time, as well as the usage of handling equipment (gantry cranes and straddle carriers).
Up to now, HHLA have only handled ships with a maximum storage capacity of 10,000 TEU at their Container Terminal. The take-over of the FAL5 service is a further milestone in CTB’s expansion to become one of the largest terminals worldwide. In order to be able to ensure the productivity of the handling services required here, HHLA has decided to introduce a new terminal management system with TERMINALSTAR. Since September 2009, the software, which was developed together with Hamburg Port Consulting GmbH (HPC), has been running at CTB alongside the old system. Since March 2010, functions of the old terminal IT system have been gradually replaced by TERMINALSTAR and the system will successively take over the entire handling of 2.6 million standard containers a year. After CTB’s completed extension, this figure will be doubled to 5.2 million TEU.
