California’s twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together handle about a third of all U.S. cargo.  $470 billion in cargo moved through their harbor last year alone.  It makes sense therefore that the management is always looking for ways to run more efficiently.  Which is why they have announced that starting next year they will begin phasing in driverless trucks to sort and move all of that cargo. 

This announcement comes hard on the heels of Freightliner’s unveiling of the first ever autonomous commercial truck licensed to drive on American highways, but these trucks will be very different.  They will be guided by magnets embedded in the asphalt of the port and aren’t designed for use on public roads. 





“We need to redefine normal,” said a managing director for the Port of Long Beach. “ We are concerned when we look at the numbers.  When you’re the biggest, you have a target on your back.” 

In their effort to “redefine normal,” the port is also implementing remote controlled cranes which will pick the cargo containers off of ships and place them on the waiting vehicles. 

Both of these new systems are part of an initiative to keep the ports on the cutting edge of efficiency.  According to one executive for Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA, a company which owns 465 ships and leases space at the port of Long Beach, the only way to move more freight than they are right now and retain market share “is with increased efficiency, which is dependent on automation and technology.” 

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Source: ttnews