DECEMBER 2022

5G can open ports' eyes to opportunities

Reproduced with the permission of CM as published in the December 2022 edition
Special Report — 5G Technology

The glue that holds
it all together
With more ports growing their digital footprint, 5G is becoming a favoured option
to support networks, Lacey Jones reportsWhile technology and digitalisation were once an

50 Wi-Fi access points with just two radios and two antenna

enigma to most ports and terminals, it is now

masts. Though in this case it was 4G rather than 5G, thealmost unheard of for a port to be “off-the-grid”.

situation is reflective across most cellular network projects.

Today there is container monitoring, autonomous vehicles,“These advantages of cellular technology are not new, but

predictive maintenance, electronic bill of ladings, remote cranes

it’s the spectrum that’s now available, that is new,” Schipper

and so on. With so much reliant on being ‘live’ for a port toexplained. “Now we’re treating ports as enterprise customers

function, the network it utilises has become vital.

and having all the options available for them because the ex-Adam Schipper, director of transportation and ports at

pectations of their customers or tenants are higher.”

Ericsson, told CM: “Ports are going through a digital trans-More recently, Ericsson has partnered with Verizon to provide

formation – and you hear that buzz word a lot. But everythinga private 5G network to support the use of autonomous over-that encompasses that digital transformation, as the applica-

the-road trucks at the Port of Virginia. Back in 2020, the port

tions get better suited to addressing these needs, needs thereceived a grant from the US Department of Transportation

bandwidth from the network to be able to accommodate that(USDOT) related to a project evaluating the operating implica-and they need low latency meaning it’s got to be up. It’s got

tions of handling the autonomous over-the-road vehicles (AVs).

to be running. It’s got to be consistent.”

Rich Ceci, senior vice president of technology and projects

Although 5G is turning out to be a favourable option forfor the Port of Virginia, told CM: “It seems likely that in the

many ports and terminals, Schipper explained that what anext seven to 10 years the AV technology will become more

port needs is a “complete solution” which blends 5G with

common because of the rate of advancement in technolo-Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and so on. “Anything that’s moving, like an

gy-assisted, over-the-road passenger vehicles.

autonomous vehicle, is a perfect example of something that is“The COVID-19 pandemic emphasised the shortage ofgoing to be better suited for 5G as opposed to Wi-Fi because

truck drivers and one solution may involve fully- or partiallyit’s constantly moving,” he added.

autonomous trucks. We operate the most technologically-ad-Compared to Wi-Fi, cellular 5G is much more reliable

vanced port in the country – both of our primary deep-wateraccording to Schipper. This is especially important within acontainer terminals include an automated stack yard – andport environment that is almost always running 24/7 where any

believe the Port of Virginia is a good place for this new

unplanned downtime could cause a domino effect across alltechnology to be evaluated.”

operations. Additionally, cellular networks offer a much wider
coverage utilising less infrastructure.

During the next four years the port will implement thenecessary communications infrastructure to support thisA few years ago, in one of Ericsson’s first port projects at DPproject, including the private 5G network. The system is being

World’s Rotterdam Gateway, the company replaced aroundinstalled at the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) container

38 — December 2022— Container Management

terminal and is due to be operational by mid-December
2022.
Ceci believes 5G to be a “key enabler” within the project,which will also be evaluating V2x technology, which is focusedon low-level safety systems and control system feedback.
Meanwhile, 5G will support reliable vehicle management
scenarios thanks to its high bandwidth.
“5G is an emerging technology and has the attributes
to support the notion of AVs moving in public spaces,”
Ceci explained. “The speeds are very high, the reliability isexceptional, and the ancillary benefits (location sensing) arevery compelling: the 5G location tracking technology has

Diekmann told CM that the confined environment of the port

proven to be accurate to about 2 cm, or roughly an inch,

gives 5G solutions providers such as Ericsson more freedom

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allowing for exceptional position monitoring in real-time.”

to design a network for that particular environment. Within a

The Port of Virginia

Schipper said that he expects the throughput numbers

port, Diekmann noted, 5G can be the “glue” between the data

is exploring 5G’s

from this project to be extremely favourable. In this instance,

acquisition technology on the port’s yard into a digital systemcapabilities

the 5G network deployed will make use of ‘millimetre wave’

to provide the necessary information.

technology. While it is technically possible to deploy thisThis was shown to be true at the Port of Livorno, wheretechnology across a whole port, it is well-suited in this use

Ericsson helped to provide a 5G network as part of a project

Top Right: Cellularcase. Millimetre wave holds the highest capacity and theto find out how certain technologies and measures impact thenetworks require lesslowest latency within the spectrum Ericsson is looking at for

operations of a port in terms of efficiency and sustainability.

infrastructure

5G according to Jan Diekmann, technical account manager

Here the network was able to help support a digital twin of

Top Left: 5G helped

at Ericsson.

the port that mirrored the facility’s day-to-day operation. The

make operations

In addition to the AV project, the Port of Virginia will evaluate

project as a whole triggered a big improvement within the

more sustainable at

5G for communicating with over-the-road trucks trucks in theyard and helped the port to save a calculated 8% of carbon

the Port of Livorno

terminal. “For example, imagine a driver with a cell phone app

emissions per terminal operations.

Bottom: 5G is well-that ends up looking very similar to an AV, but with a humanDiekmann hopes that the future of 5G will see it gluing

consuming the messages,” Ceci said. “We plan on implement-

together all the new technologies available to enable a fully

ing technology so we can see where over-the-road trucks are

digitalised port. “There are other technologies still, but 5G reallyon the terminal, react to hot spots, help lost drivers get back onhelps to enable a large part of all these new technologies thattrack and potentially change the truck’s mission to real-time.”are no longer impossible and are coming to life.

Another potential usage for 5G within the Port of Virginia“AI, autonomous driving, autonomous vehicles, remoteinvolves replacing or augmenting the differential GPS (DGPS)

operation… 5G will move together all these technologies to

it uses today to track its on-terminal vehicles, which is correct

create a more worthwhile and resilient part of the overall trans-

to about 1 ft. He noted that there are newer vehicle tracking

portation chain and at the same time also contributing to aproducts emerging for container terminals that use both DGPS

huge extent in better sustainability.”

and the 5G location tracking technology RTK.

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suited to support
autonomous vehicles

For now though, Ericsson is working on projects such as

Ceci added: “Finally, we think that 5G may be a replacement

those at the ports of Virginia and Livorno to further explore 5G’sfor on-terminal private Wi-Fi, but this is something we wantcapabilities within the port industry. “We’re eager to take thatto take and examine more closely. Our terminals are alreadytechnology further and show that 5G can contribute even onblanketed with Wi-Fi, but there are times that coverage isa big scale because Livorno was on a small, confined scale,”spotty, so we want to see if 5G may do a better job. Keeping

Diekmann said. “That’s evolved, and now we’re really eager

our workforce fully connected is a key success factor to theto show it can work on an even larger scale and to refine it

technology working as intended.”alongside our 5G deployments.”
Container Management — December 2022 — 39