The first vacuum automatic mooring system was officially put into use in Qingdao Port

Shandong Port Qingdao Port’s fully automated container terminal has officially launched China’s first vacuum automatic mooring system, which completely replaces the traditional manual mooring operation mode. It relies on vacuum suction cups to absorb the hull to complete the ship fixation. The time required for single ship mooring has been reduced from the traditional 20-30 minutes to less than 30 seconds.
The system is equipped with 13 sets of mooring units, which can generate a maximum adsorption force of 2,600 kN, and can be adapted to the docking of ultra-large container ships around the world;
It adopts a remote centralized intelligent management and control architecture and uses multiple sensors to monitor changes in the wind, wave and current environment in real time to achieve unmanned and safe mooring;
It not only avoids the safety risks of cable breakage and personnel working at high altitudes, but a single berth can add more than ten ship operations throughout the year. It is a landmark project for the intelligent upgrading of port mooring equipment, and has also driven a significant increase in demand for supporting products such as intelligent bollards, constant tension fairlead equipment, and high-strength mooring ropes.
Industry impact
Traditional fixed mooring equipment is iterating towards intelligence and unmanned operation. Intelligent bollards and fairleads with tension monitoring and IoT early warning functions will become standard procurement categories for newly built and renovated ports.