By Xinyi Li, EDITOR

Guoyuan Port strives to develop itself into an integrated transport hub in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Various cargoe will be transported in different modes by railway, highway, and waterway. With the implementation of building a smart port, there are a decreasing number of commanders, but an increasing amount of automated equipment.

Guoyuan Port strives to develop itself into an integrated transport hub in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River

Machine-Centered Loading/Unloading Operation from Human-Centered One

The first railcar loader in China is on the working spot of the dedicated rail link in Guoyuan Port. In addition, it is running fast to fill the iron ore imported from Australia via waterway into the railcar. This batch of iron ore will arrive at the steelworks in Weiyuan Sichuan through the harbor railway.

The railcar loader is the first car loader combining loading and unwinding in China with automatic unwinding equipment. Additionally, it is different from the artificial topping-out after traditional mechanical loading. It meets the unbalance loading requirements regulated in rail freight after loading. Therefore, it has achieved a qualitative leap in the efficiency compared with traditional mobile machinery.

With the growing business through rail-water transportation, Guoyuan Port is accelerating the progress of the smart port. The successive operation of intelligent equipment has generated a machine-based, human-assisted operation mode from the original manual one for the production in Guoyuan Port.

Lifting Operation—Remote Manipulation Is Safe with Higher Efficiency

The crane, an important production tool in Guoyuan Port, is a key part of the intellectualized reconstruction. One day will see an average of lifting 600 containers at the container wharf. So how to ensure the efficiency of operation?

The operators only need to grasp and put boxes, and one operator can handle three or four machines simultaneously

Guoyuan Port is the first inland terminal depot that adopts the remote control technology to achieve automatic crane operation. Under the mode, therefore, even large cranes like gantry cranes can run in strict accordance with the set procedures and can also automatically complete most of the work. The operators only need to grasp and put boxes, such steps with high technical difficulties. Moreover, one operator can handle three or four machines simultaneously.

Transportation Operation—Belt Conveyors Save Time and Money Instead of Vehicles

The Belt Conveyor, as the significant transportation equipment in the port, is able to realize the continuous and automatic delivery of materials. Guoyuan Port is speeding up the construction of the “Conveyor Corridor”. With a total length of about 6.5 kilometers, this project has an internal belt conveyor, to continue delivering materials automatically. Moreover, the corridor connects the front terminal and the rear port railway. Divided into two “rail-to-water” belt conveyor lines, as well as one “water-to-rail” line, it forms a channel for bulk cargo with two-way conveyance and seamless connection between the golden waterway of the Yangtze River and the China Railway Express (Chongqing).

Source: Chongqing Daily