Towards intuitive visualisation goals for the operation optimisation of automated container terminal based on digital twin technology

ABSTRACT

Automated container terminals (ACTs) face many challenges in operation improvement. This research comprehensively analyses the challenges and requirements of ACT operation from two aspects—equipment and operation management. Moreover, this research summarises the advantages of a digital twin; meanwhile, the potential solutions associated with the digital twin are analysed through various cases in different domains. Furthermore, a feasibility analysis is presented, which describes the implementation method related to the advantages of the digital twin in ACT operation optimisation. Lastly, a case study of the New Qianwan automated terminal of Qingdao Port is used to describe the systematic development of the digital twin system. This system can realise real-time monitoring of ACT operation, real-time operation analysis, and real-time abnormal detection of the loading and unloading process. This study illustrates the effectiveness of digital twin technology adopted in the ACT.

KEYWORDS:

• Automated container terminal
• digital twin
• optimisation
• system development
• operation management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant number 72203029), Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (grant number 22YJCZH210), Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (No. 2021-BS-072), Fundamental Research Funds of the Educational Department of Liaoning Province for the Colleges and Universities (No. LJKQR2021003), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number 3132022650)This study formed part of my thesis studies for the degree of philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the Dalian Maritime University, which has been further developed and revised after the completion of my thesis.