CGSA uses ABB Crane OCR for automatic recording of container weights at the quay

CGSA (Contecon Guayaquil SA) started weighing containers at the gate and at the quay as part of their safety and security initiative in their terminal in Guayaquil, Ecuador several years ago. In 2011 the terminal invested in Crane OCR from ABB*, which enabled automatic recording of the container numbers and weights during vessel operations.

CGSA was the first terminal to implement Crane OCR solution in South America. The ABB solution identifies the unique numbers of the containers and the terminal tractors, ensuring both pieces of equipment is matched together in real time. This allows fully automated handoff of the container and makes the process faster and safer.

Comparing and integrating container weights

However, the utilization of the OCR solution was brought one step further at CGSA’s terminal. CGSA had the ambition to automatically capture and integrate the container weights output by the STS cranes allowing comparison of the weight readings previously provided by the shipper or collected at weight scales at the terminal gates.

To be able to do that, CGSA needed a solution for transmitting information about the container weight from the weighing system implemented in the STS cranes to the host system. The Crane OCR solution offered a perfect solution for that. With the Crane OCR system, container and tractor numbers associated with each STS movement are automatically recorded and then integrated with the weight data before being submitted to the terminal’s terminal operating system. 

“This solution has turned out to be very successful and we have installed the same solution on every STS crane we have added on the quay ever since. In fact, we are currently deploying the same solution with ABB as part of the expansion of the terminal”, said Gustavo Cercos, Director of Engineering at CGSA.

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_{*The original Crane OCR solution was delivered by APS Technology Group that was acquired by ABB in 2013.}