The FastShips are designed to incorporate a horizontal roll-on roll-off load/unload system using platforms and Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) which will also be integrated into the terminal operations.  The AGV system was developed by one of our strategic partners, TTS Technology ASA of Norway, as part of the EU-funded Improved Port Ship Interface (IPSI) program begun in the mid-nineties. This proven system will enable the FastShips to be unloaded and reloaded in six hours, cutting time in port by a factor of four relative to conventional crane-based systems. The time saved in port is the equivalent of adding another 10 knots (12 mph) of speed to the ship.

With the rubber-tired AGV system, standard ISO containers are double-stacked on cassettes. The AGVs move the cassettes on and off the ship and around the terminal.  The AGVs can operate individually or in a virtual train.  They are laser guided and are free-ranging around the terminal, resulting in tremendous operational flexibility.  Each AGV is self-propelled and drives under a cassette, lifts it hydraulically, drives it from the terminal onto the ship, lowers it onto locking pins in the deck of the ship, and then withdraws.

During the loading and unloading of FastShip, two lanes of import cargo are pulled off the ship simultaneously and are immediately replaced with two lanes of export cargo. With the containers pre-positioned on their cassettes in the terminal, the load/unload sequence is a process of rapid exchange of import and export cargo.

This is how our extraordinary standard of over 360 loads per hour is achieved, resulting in a six-hour turnaround time for the FastShip.

The horizontal Ro-Ro process overcomes the disadvantages of conventional container ships in which the ship design forces operators to use a vertical process in which cranes lift containers on and off one by one. With the productivity of an individual crane limited to around 30 moves per hour, several cranes are needed but typically only two or three can be used at the same time.

For more information on the IPSI AGVs and cassettes, please visit www.tts-marine.com.  TTS has been in the business of designing and manufacturing materials handling equipment for ships and heavy manufacturing plants for over thirty years.