APM Terminals plans to open new truck gates at its New Jersey facility at the end of the first quarter of 2020 in a bid to ease the congestion and lift overall cargo volumes.
The new gate complex at APM's Port Elizabeth terminal will have 24 inbound lanes with 20 outbound lanes, up from 10 inbound and 10 outbound lanes at present.
The gate complex sits on 15 acres of the Elizabeth marine terminal that was previously used as a chassis depot. Those chassis operations have been transferred to the Columbia Group-owned Elizabeth Chassis Depot, reported American Shipper.
The truck gates at the Elizabeth marine terminal have been in place since 1968. According to manager of client services Giovanni Antonuccio, they have not been able to keep up with the volumes currently going through the terminal.
'The current antiquated gate is indeed a challenge for truckers at times,' Mr Antonuccio said. Truck fluidity was a problem for beneficial cargo owners during the winter of 2018 when drivers reported major delays at the terminal, resulting in long truck queues outside the terminal entrance.
Turn times within the APM complex are one hour or less, Mr Antonuccio said. However, the wait outside the gates added 30 minutes or more depending on the queue. Some dray carriers were reportedly tacking on congestion charges of up to US$300 per container for moves at APM.
The new gate complex is expected to cut turn times by 40 per cent, Mr Antonuccio said. 'We can service the trucks ultra-fast in the yard, but they are waiting too long at the gate because the old gate could not handle the throughput.'
The new gates will also be fitted with optical character recognition for containers, weigh-in-motion scales, radio frequency identification, and closed-circuit television.
The new technology means clerks at the gate will just have to verify container numbers instead of entering numbers manually. That's a 50-second difference for each truck move, but with 5,000 container moves daily, the time savings add up.
WORLD SHIPPING
The new gate complex at APM's Port Elizabeth terminal will have 24 inbound lanes with 20 outbound lanes, up from 10 inbound and 10 outbound lanes at present.
The gate complex sits on 15 acres of the Elizabeth marine terminal that was previously used as a chassis depot. Those chassis operations have been transferred to the Columbia Group-owned Elizabeth Chassis Depot, reported American Shipper.
The truck gates at the Elizabeth marine terminal have been in place since 1968. According to manager of client services Giovanni Antonuccio, they have not been able to keep up with the volumes currently going through the terminal.
'The current antiquated gate is indeed a challenge for truckers at times,' Mr Antonuccio said. Truck fluidity was a problem for beneficial cargo owners during the winter of 2018 when drivers reported major delays at the terminal, resulting in long truck queues outside the terminal entrance.
Turn times within the APM complex are one hour or less, Mr Antonuccio said. However, the wait outside the gates added 30 minutes or more depending on the queue. Some dray carriers were reportedly tacking on congestion charges of up to US$300 per container for moves at APM.
The new gate complex is expected to cut turn times by 40 per cent, Mr Antonuccio said. 'We can service the trucks ultra-fast in the yard, but they are waiting too long at the gate because the old gate could not handle the throughput.'
The new gates will also be fitted with optical character recognition for containers, weigh-in-motion scales, radio frequency identification, and closed-circuit television.
The new technology means clerks at the gate will just have to verify container numbers instead of entering numbers manually. That's a 50-second difference for each truck move, but with 5,000 container moves daily, the time savings add up.
WORLD SHIPPING