WO2018052303A1

WO2018052303A1 - Method of managing transportation of cargo between a ship and a target area

Info

Publication number: WO2018052303A1
Application number: PCT/NL2017/050618
Authority: WO
Inventors: Martin Cornelis VAN DER JAGT
Original assignee: Ect Delta Terminal B.V.
Priority date: 2016-09-19
Filing date: 2017-09-19
Publication date: 2018-03-22
Also published as: NL2017495B1

Abstract

The various aspects and embodiments thereof relate to dual cycling loading and discharging of containers on a vessel (100). On the vessel (100), an upper layer (120) is provided above the hatch covers (102, 104...) and a lower layer (110) below the cover s. After a first bay below a first hatch cover is discharged, loading the first bay continues, while a second bay identified by a second hatch cover is started. A trolley (162) moves from the quay to the ship to load the first cell, discharge the second cell and bring the container from the second cell to the quay. The first bay may be loaded above or below the first hatch cover and the container from the second cell may be from the upper or lower level.

Description

Title: Method of managing transportation of cargo between a ship and a target area TECHNICAL FIELD

The various aspects and embodiments thereof relate to unloading and loading of modular cargo elements from and in a ship.

BACKGROUND

Container vessels are offloaded and loaded using container cranes.

Such cranes comprise a structure provided on a quay and a horizontal boom that overhangs the ship. On the boom, a trolley is provided. From the trolley, a spreader is suspended for transporting containers between the quay and the ship.

With the advent of larger and larger container vessels, currently nearing a capacity of 20.000 containers, efficient discharging procedures and loading procedures are becoming more and more important.

SUMMARY

It is preferred to have more efficient use of the passes of the trolley between the quay and the ship.

A first aspect provides a method of managing transportation of cargo between a ship and a target area, the ship comprising a first upper loading level and a first lower loading level separated by at least a first deck module - or hatch cover -, the first loading levels being arranged for holding modular cargo elements as cargo stacked vertically in cells and horizontally in rows. The method comprises transporting, by means of a container crane, cargo elements stored on the first deck module at the first upper loading- level from the ship to the target area, removing the first deck module for uncovering at least part of the first lower loading level and transporting, by means of a container crane, cargo elements comprised in a first cell at the first lower loading level from the ship to the target area.

The method further comprises transporting a first cargo element from the target area to the first cell by moving a trolley, comprised by the container crane and arranged for moving between a first position above the ship and a second position above the target area, from above the target area to above the first cell, the trolley comprising the first cargo element. Next, the trolley is transported from above the first cell to above a second cell, the second cell being located in an area previously covered by the first deck module and a second cargo element is picked up from the second cell. The second cargo element is transported to the target area by moving the trolley from above the second cell to above the target area.

Currently employed dual cycling offloading and loading procedures do not take into account upper and lower loading levels that are separated by deck covers, whereas the method according to the first aspect does take this into account.

An embodiment comprises transporting cargo elements from the target area to a third cell being located in an area previously covered by the first deck module, covering the first cell, the second cell and the third cell by applying the first deck module and transporting cargo elements from the target area to the first upper loading level above the first deck module.

Once the lower loading level has been offloaded and loaded - processed -, the first deck module is replaced for enabling loading of containers on the first deck module.

In another embodiment, the ship further comprises a second upper loading level and a second lower loading level separated by a second deck module. In this embodiment, the method further comprising execution of the method according to the first aspect for transportation of cargo elements between the second loading levels of the ship and the target area. Loading of the first bay area - above and below the first deck module - may be combined with offloading of the second bay area - above and below the second deck module. More in particular, while containers are loaded in the first bay area, for example at the lower level, containers may be offloaded from the second bay area, for example at the upper level. This allows faster offloading from the second upper level, which, in turn, allows earlier removal of the second deck module and earlier access to the second lower level.

A second aspect provides a computer programme product readable by an electronic computing device, comprising instructions arranged to programming the electronic computing device to provide a set of instructions for managing transportation of cargo between a ship and a target area. The ship comprises a first upper loading level and a first lower loading level separated by at least a first deck module, the first loading levels being arranged for holding modular cargo elements as cargo stacked vertically in cells and horizontally in rows. The set of instructions comprises instructions to transport, by means of a container crane, cargo elements stored on the first deck module at the first upper loading level from the ship to the target area, remove the first deck module for uncovering at least part of the first lower loading level, transport, by means of a container crane, cargo elements comprised in a first cell at the first lower loading level from the ship to the target area, transport a first cargo element from the target area to the first cell by moving a trolley, comprised by the container crane and arranged for moving between a first position above the ship and a second position above the target area, from above the target area to above the first cell, the trolley comprising the first cargo element, transport the trolley from above the first cell to above a second cell, the second cell being located in an area previously covered by the first deck module, pick up a second cargo element from the second cell and transport the second cargo element to the target area by moving the trolley from above the second cell to above the target area.

A third embodiment provides an electronic computing device programmed by means of the computer programme product according to the second aspect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various aspects and embodiments thereof will now be discussed in further detail in conjunction with drawings. In the drawings,

Figure 1: shows a vessel to be unloaded and loaded;

Figure 2: shows a flowchart;

Figure 3 A: shows the vessel being partially offloaded;

Figure 3 B: shows the vessel being further offloaded;

Figure 3 C: shows the vessel being loaded;

Figure 3 D: shows the vessel being further unloaded and loaded;

Figure 3 E: shows the vessel being further unloaded and loaded;

Figure 3 F: shows the vessel being almost fully reloaded; and

Figure 3 G: shows the vessel being fully reloaded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 shows a container ship 100 as a cargo vessel moored to a quay 170 on which a gantry crane 150 is provided as a quay crane. The container ship 100 comprises a lower cargo level 110 below a first hatch cover 102 and further hatch covers and an upper cargo level 120 above the first hatch cover 102 and further hatch covers. Optionally, the container ship 100 comprises an upper cargo level 130 on top of various upper cargo modules at the upper cargo level. The container ship 100 carries containers and preferably steel containers having sizes in accordance with ISO standards as modular cargo elements. The gantry crane 150 comprises a base structure 152, on top of which a boom 154 is provided. The boom 154 extends from the gantry crane 150 over the container ship 100. The boom 154 may comprise a pivoting element for swiveling a part of the boom 154 that overhangs over the container ship 100 upward. For providing balancing of the gantry crane 150, a counterweight 156 is provided at the mainland side of the gantry crane 150.

On the boom 154, a trolley 162 is provided. The trolley 162 is arranged for executing a reciprocating linear movement over substantially the full length of the boom 154, from a distal point of the boom 154 at the counterweight 156 to a proximal point of the boom 154 opposite to the distal point - or at least over a substantial part thereof. To the trolley 162, a cabin 164 is provided for accommodating a crane driver. In another embodiment, the gantry crane 150 is operated from a remote location. In such

embodiment, the cabin 164 may be omitted. To the trolley, also a hoisting module is provided for hoisting a hne holding a container spreader 166 as a spreader. The hoisting module allows moving the container spreader 166 up and down.

The container spreader 166 is arranged for gripping and holding one or more containers. This allows the gantry crane 150 for transporting containers between the container ship 100 and a vehicle 174 provided in a target area 172. The vehicle 174 is arranged for transporting containers to and from the target area. In this way, containers to be loaded on the container ship 100 are transported towards the target area 172 and containers discharged from the container ship 100 may be transported away from the target area 172.

Within the cabin 164, the crane driver is provided with controls for, among others, moving the trolley 162, hoisting and lowering the spreader 166 and for gripping or releasing containers. Alternatively or additionally, control are provided at a remote location. The crane driver receives instructions which container to pick up and where to deploy it via a computing device 180. The processing device 180 may be embodied as a computer. The computing device 180 is programmed by means of a computer programme product 182 which may be provided on a non-transitory or transitory medium. Alternatively, driving of the gantry crane 150 is automated and operation thereof is fully controlled by the computing device 180.

The operation of loading and unloading of the container ship 100 will now be discussed in further detail in conjunction with a flowchart 200 provided in Figure 2 and drawings provided in Figure 3 A through Figure 3 G. Summaries of the various parts of the flowchart 200 are provided below.

202 start transportation cycle

204 remove top layer cargo

206 remove upper level cargo on hatch cover

208 remove hatch cover

210 unload cell

212 enough visibility for loading?

214 pick up container from quay

216 transport container to cell to be loaded

218 deploy container

220 move trolley to cell to be unloaded

222 pick up container

224 transport container to quay

226 no more containers to be unloaded?

228 finalise loading lower level

230 replace hatch cover

232 load upper level

234 all bay modules done?

236 load top level 238 done loading

252 unload adjacent cell

254 proceed to next bay module The transportation cycle starts in a terminator 202, upon which firstly the top cargo level 130 is discharged in step 204. The containers at the top cargo level 130 are transported from the container ship 100 to the quay 170 and the target area 172 in particular. On the quay 170, the containers are transported to another location by means of one or more vehicles 174. This is shown in Figure 3 A, in which the top cargo level 130 has been discharged.

In step 206, containers at the upper cargo level 120 that are located on the first hatch cover 102 are discharged to the quay 170. The containers at the upper cargo level 120 are preferably discharged in an orderly manner. This may be per level, from left to right. Alternatively, the containers at the upper cargo level 120 are discharged from top to bottom per cell. A cell is defined as a single stack of containers.

Once the containers located on the first hatch cover 102 are discharged, the first hatch cover 102 is removed in step 208. Removing the first hatch cover 102 exposes several cells at the lower cargo level 110. In step 210, a first cell accessible by the spreader 166 by removing the first hatch cover 102 is discharged. In step 212, it is optionally checked whether enough containers have been discharged to start loading of the first cell. If not, additional containers in a further cell adjacent to the previously emptied cell is discharged in step 252. This is depicted in Figure 3 B.

If an emptied cell can be reloaded with new containers, the procedure continues to step 214. In step 214, the spreader 166 picks up a container from the vehicle 174, which container is to be loaded into the container ship 100. This is depicted in Figure 3 C. Next, in step 216, the trolley 162 moves to an empty cell, preferably at the side of the container ship 100. In step 218, the container picked up from the quay is deployed in the cell.

This is all depicted by Figure 3 C, the dashed lines shows transport of the container to be loaded, the dotted line shows movement of the spreader 166 after deployment of the container to be loaded and the solid hne shows transport of the container to be subsequently discharged.

Having deployed the container, the trolley 162 moves to a cell comprising containers to be discharged in step 220. A container to be discharged is picked up in step 222 and transported to the quay 170 and the vehicle 174 at the target area 172 in particular in step 224. In step 226, it is checked whether the cells previously covered by the first hatch cover 102 comprise any further containers to be discharged. If this is the case and further containers are to be discharged from this bay area, the process branches back to step 214.

If this this not the case, loading of the cells previously covered by the first hatch cover 102 is continued while not discharging any containers from the bay area previously covered by the first hatch cover 102.

Alternatively, the cells previously covered by the first hatch cover 102 are loaded while, on return of the trolley 162 towards the quay, containers are discharged from the upper level on top of a second hatch cover 104, as depicted by Figure 3 D. The black container has just been loaded and subsequently, a container is picked up from the second hatch cover 104. This allows fast discharging from the second hatch cover 104, faster than firstly fully finishing loading on the first hatch cover 102 prior to unloading from the second hatch cover 104.

Once it has been verified no more containers are to be loaded in the cells previously covered by the first hatch cover 102, the first hatch cover 102 is replaced at its original position in step 230. Alternatively, this bay area is covered by another hatch cover. Having replaced the first hatch cover 102, transportation of containers for loading the upper level above the first hatch cover 102 is possible and is executed in step 232. Next, it is checked whether all containers in the ship's hold have been processed in step 234. More in particular, it is checked whether a bay module - a bay module being an area in the hold of the ship above and below one hatch cover - required to be discharged has not been processed yet. If another bay module comprises containers to be discharged, the process braches back to step 206, via step 254 with an instruction to proceed to the next bay module.

If during loading of the last cells under the first hatch cover 102 containers are discharged from the second hatch cover 104, two bay modules are handled at once. This is depicted by Figure 3 E: the black container has just been loaded at the upper level of the most left bay module and subsequently, a container is discharged from the leftmost cell of the second bay module from the left before the trolley 162 returns to the quay 170. In this embodiment, processing the leftmost bay module is followed by processing of the bay module directly adjacent to the leftmost bay module.

Alternatively, processing of the leftmost bay module is followed by processing the rightmost bay module. An advantage of this latter

embodiment is that balance of the container ship 100 is better balance, thus improving stability of the vessel. In another alternative, the bays closest to the quay 170 are discharged first. And in again another alternative, firstly the most inner bays are discharged and loaded, followed by the outermost bays. And in yet another alternative, an inner bay and an outer bay are handled together, in any sequence.

If there are no further bay modules to be unloaded, the process continues with only loading the last remaining cells. This is depicted in Figure 3 F.

If it is determined all bay modules assigned to the gantry crane 150 have been processed and all containers required to be discharged have been discharged and all containers required to be loaded have been loaded, the process continues from step 234 to step 236. In step 236, optionally containers are loaded on the top level of the ship 100 as depicted by

Figure 3 G. Subsequently, the process ends in terminator 238.

It is noted that in the embodiments discussed above, the spreader

166 carries single containers. In another embodiment, the spreader 166 is arranged for carrying multiple containers. The description provided above also applies to use of such spreaders. Larger spreaders may also be used for mixed dual cycling, in which one, two or more containers are charged or discharged, interleaved by handling single containers in one pass of the trolley 162.

In summary, the various aspects and embodiments thereof relate to dual cycling loading and discharging of containers on a vessel. On the vessel, an upper layer is provided above the hatch covers and a lower layer below the covers. After a first bay below a first hatch cover is discharged, loading the first bay continues, while a second bay identified by a second hatch cover is started. A trolley moves from the quay to the ship to load the first cell, discharge the second cell and bring the container from the second cell to the quay. The first bay may be loaded above or below the first hatch cover and the container from the second cell may be from the upper or lower- level .

Expressions such as "comprise", "include", "incorporate", "contain", "is" and "have" are to be construed in a non-exclusive manner when interpreting the description and its associated claims, namely construed to allow for other items or components which are not explicitly defined also to be present. Reference to the singular is also to be construed in be a reference to the plural and vice versa.

In the description above, it will be understood that when an element such as layer, region or substrate is referred to as being "on" or "onto" another element, the element is either directly on the other element, or intervening elements may also be present.

Furthermore, the invention may also be embodied with less components than provided in the embodiments described here, wherein one component carries out multiple functions. Just as well may the invention be embodied using more elements than depicted in the Figures, wherein functions carried out by one component in the embodiment provided are distributed over multiple components.

A person skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various parameters disclosed in the description may be modified and that various embodiments disclosed and/or claimed may be combined without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

Method of managing transportation of cargo between a ship and a target area, the ship comprising a first upper loading level and a first lower loading level separated by at least a first deck module, the first loading levels being arranged for holding modular cargo elements as cargo stacked vertically in cells and horizontally in rows, the method comprising:

Transporting, by means of a container crane, cargo elements stored on the first deck module at the first upper loading level from the ship to the target area;

Removing the first deck module for uncovering at least part of the first lower loading level;

Transporting, by means of a container crane, cargo elements comprised in a first cell at the first lower loading level from the ship to the target area;

Transporting a first cargo element from the target area to the first cell by moving a trolley, comprised by the container crane and arranged for moving between a first position above the ship and a second position above the target area, from above the target area to above the first cell, the trolley comprising the first cargo element;

Transporting the trolley from above the first cell to above a second cell, the second cell being located in an area previously covered by the first deck module;

Picking up a second cargo element from the second cell; and Transporting the second cargo element to the target area by moving the trolley from above the second cell to above the target area.

2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising: Transporting cargo elements from the target area to a third cell being located in an area previously covered by the first deck module;

Covering the first cell, the second cell and the third cell by applying the first deck module; and

Transporting cargo elements from the target area to the first upper loading level above the first deck module.

Method according to claim 2, wherein the ship further comprises a second upper loading level and a second lower loading level separated by a second deck module, the method further comprising execution of the method according to claim 1 for transportation of cargo elements between the second loading levels of the ship and the target area.

Method according to claim 3, wherein the second deck module is adjacent to the first deck module.

5. Method according to claim 2 or claim 3, further comprising:

- Transporting a cargo element from either one of the first loading levels from the target area to the ship;

Prior to return of the trolley from above the ship to above the target area, picking up a further cargo element from either one of the second loading levels.

6. Method according to claim 5, wherein the first loading level is the first lower loading level and the second loading level is the first upper loading level. Method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising, prior to transportation of cargo elements from the target area to the first cell, transporting cargo elements from a fourth cell to the target area, the fourth cells being located directly adjacent to the first cell.

Method according to claim 7, wherein transporting cargo elements comprised in the fourth cell comprises transporting all cargo elements from the fourth cell to the target area.

Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein transporting cargo elements comprised in the first cell comprises transporting all cargo elements from the first cell to the target area.

Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the cargo elements at an upper loading level are transported from the ship to the target area per row.

Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the cargo elements at an upper loading level are transported from the ship to the target area per cell.

Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the ship is located along a quay and the target area is located on the quay.

Computer programme product readable by an electronic computing device, comprising instructions arranged to

programming the electronic computing device to provide a set of instructions for managing transportation of cargo between a ship and a target area, the ship comprising a first upper loading level and a first lower loading level separated by at least a first deck module, the first loading levels being arranged for holding modular cargo elements as cargo stacked vertically in cells and horizontally in rows, the set of instructions comprising instructions to:

Transport, by means of a container crane, cargo elements stored on the first deck module at the first upper loading level from the ship to the target area;

Remove the first deck module for uncovering at least part of the first lower loading level;

Transport, by means of a container crane, cargo elements comprised in a first cell at the first lower loading level from the ship to the target area;

Transport a first cargo element from the target area to the first cell by moving a trolley, comprised by the container crane and arranged for moving between a first position above the ship and a second position above the target area, from above the target area to above the first cell, the trolley comprising the first cargo element;

Transport the trolley from above the first cell to above a second cell, the second cell being located in an area previously covered by the first deck module;

Pick up a second cargo element from the second cell; and Transport the second cargo element to the target area by moving the trolley from above the second cell to above the target area.

14. Electronic computing device programmed by means of the

computer programme product according to claim 13.