Piloting the DrivePoint Heavy Duty for Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) at Hutchinson Ports ECT Rotterdam, Goodyear were able to showcase the ease of maintenance for autonomous port applications for one of the world’s largest AGV operators.
DrivePoint Heavy Duty Proves to be an Exciting Development for Autonomous Port Applications
Goodyear’s tyre monitoring solution will help maintenance managers of AGVs to improve preventive tyre maintenance and reduce vehicle downtime. The tyre life is extended while the advanced tyre monitoring solution also supports sustainability industry goals.
Over the last decade, container ships have significantly grown in capacity size, with the latest generation of ultra-large ships able to carry more than 20,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) halfway across the globe. Larger vessels mean more energy efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.
In 2020, the largest port of Europe, the Port of Rotterdam, handled 8,436,240 incoming and outgoing containers, which is the equivalent to 436.8 million tonnes of goods. The exponential growth of goods arriving at European ports significantly impacts the daily port operations, including increasing unloading times and complex planning processes, which requires more digitalisation and automation.
Vehicle movements within ports are extremely time-critical as any disruption impacts the supply chain. Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty is the first system to cater to the advanced AGV-segment, further enhancing efficiency and safety in the daily port operations.
How DrivePort has Benefited Hutchinson Ports ECT Rotterdam
Multiple Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty’s have been installed at the ECT Euromax and ECT Delta terminals. Operational within one of the world’s largest AGV port operations, the fully automated tyre monitoring system will monitor about 100 AGVs, supporting them to operate under optimal conditions day or night. Based on the tyre data provided by the new system, vehicles can be serviced at the right moment, and tyre service life can be further extended, with no interruption of the automated process for tyre checking.
Goodyear DrivePoint Heavy Duty – How it works
Every time the vehicle passes through the port-based information receivers, it picks up readings from the system’s dedicated heavy-duty on-valve tyre pressure sensors. The sensors are installed on the valves rather than inside the wheel and tyre unit, ensuring tyres don’t have to be demounted, helping ease operations.
Once the data is uploaded to the Goodyear cloud, this gives maintenance managers and operators instant access and reporting through the Goodyear Fleet Manager app. If there is a low tyre pressure alert, the system highlights this immediately. This data reduces the risk of unexpected downtime, most critical in fully automated port operations and allows targeted servicing and preventive maintenance of AGVs.
Alberto Villarreal – Managing Director Proactive Solutions & Fleet Europe at Goodyear heralded the DrivePoint Heavy Trucks advance stating of the technology, “The easy to install DrivePoint has proved to be an immediate success for truck fleets wanting to increase uptime. By tailoring this technology to the specific requirements of autonomous port operations, we believe DrivePoint Heavy Duty will be a game-changer for the AGV-segment.”
Villarreal added, “The port sector is at the forefront of vehicle autonomy, and this innovative fully automated system is a perfect fit for operators and maintenance managers seeking to maximise uptime and efficiency, as well as preventive tyre maintenance.”
