Following the effective testing of one smart bollard along the quay of the Hutchison Ports ECT Delta port on the Maasvlakte, the Port of Rotterdam Authority has now placed six “smart bollards”.
The six bollards, designed in cooperation with Straatman BV, Zwijndrecht, are installed side by side at a single berth for large container vessels.
Straatman, based in the Dutch city of Zwijndrecht, has specialised in the creation, production, and provision of high-quality products for the worldwide maritime sector for over a century.
Since the bollards measure the strength of the mooring lines, more insight is gained into the consequences of berthing, docking and idling container ships at the quay. The installation of smart berths is in line with the port authority’s policy of making the port safer and more efficient through digitalisation.
The Port of Rotterdam Authority said it specialises in the construction and maintenance of quay walls, while it manages 80 kilometres of quay wall and 200 kilometres of bank shoring, using information obtained from sensors in the quays.
This information has shown, among other things, that quay walls have a longer lifespan than commonly believed. Thanks in part to this information, the European standards for structural design have been updated. The creation of the smart berth is part of a series of measures aimed at using digital technology to manage highly capital-intensive assets such as quay walls more efficiently.
