Patent ID: 8793013

Claim:
A method for handling loads in a warehouse for containers, said method comprising: automatically placing the containers into storage and removing the containers from storage with a container stacking crane; unloading the containers in a loading and unloading area adjacent the warehouse with the container stacking crane; determining a number of persons, including a driver, positioned in a truck configured for receiving and hauling at least one of the containers when the truck is in a control area; positioning the truck in a parking space of the loading and unloading area; vacating the truck and the parking space by the driver; detecting the departure of the driver from the parking space; generating an authorization signal and transmitting the signal to the container stacking crane in response to said detecting; initiating, in response to the authorization signal, an automatic loading or unloading process for transferring the containers onto or off of the truck in the parking space with the container stacking crane; wherein when said determining the number of persons positioned in the truck in the control area results in a determination that one or more persons, in addition to the driver, are positioned in the truck in the control area; and relocating the one or more additional persons from the truck to a passenger waiting area so that only the driver remains in the truck for said positioning the truck in the parking space.