Document Type

Research Paper

Publication Date

2012

Abstract

In the era of climate change combat transport industry is recognized as a sector with one of the largest environmental footprints. A part of transport industry is container shipping and handling division, which is currently growing with the fastest rate. This massive growth of container sector is due to containers pouring from Asia, mainly from China. Thus, container port operations are also experiencing significant increase in port emissions. This fact puts port authorities in position to find a way to reduce environmental impact of port operations and at the same time withhold increase in number containers being handled. In response to the demanding task of reducing emissions and increasing TEU numbers Cargo Handling Equipment (CHE) industry offers variety of solutions. In this paper, state-of-the-art technology for Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes is being analyzed in order to find out the most eco-efficient solution. A conventional RTG crane is compared to hybrid Eco-RTG with super-cap energy storage system and electrified ERTG crane. The last two solutions represent the latest trend in CHE industry. The methodology used to carry out RTG cranes environmental impact comparison is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) outlined in ISO 14040, as a tool which offers possibility to address entire product's life cycle in a consistent way. The obtained results of RTG cranes LCA are presented in accordance to ISO 14040 principles with the highlight on CML and TRACI impact assessment methods. Based on the obtained results, the recommendations on reducing environmental footprint of ports are done by necessary improvements on RTG cranes. Since, the objective of this paper is twofold, use of LCA methodology as a tool in the early stage of design is promoted due to its possibility to offer preliminary information and details of processes and materials.

Comments

Paper 41

Publication Title

Progress in Material Handling Research: 2012

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