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First commercial use of DP World’s revolutionary Boxbay high-bay container storage system at its terminal in Busan, South Korea
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Contract was signed on March 8 between Pusan Newport Corp. and Boxbay FZCO – a joint venture of DP World and German plant technology supplier, SMS group – initiating the design and engineering works for the site
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CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem says DP World has taken the technology that has proven its effectiveness in the German metals industry and transformed it to create the innovative container storage system
DP World’s has chosen its Busan hub to pioneer high-bay storage for containers called Boxbay that the global terminal operator has developed in joint venture with German plant technology supplier SMS Group.
On March 8, Pusan Newport Corp. (PNC) and Boxbay FZCO – the joint venture of DP World and SMS Group – signed a contract initiating the design and engineering works for the site at South Korea’s Port of Busan.
The contract was signed in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, by Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and chief executive of DP World, and Burkhard Dahmen, chairman and CEO of SMS group.
PNC already operates one of the highest-performing container terminals in Asia. The addition of Boxbay’s technology will allow PNC to boost its efficiency even further.
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The high-bay storage technology will be seamlessly integrated with the automated rail-mounted gantry (ARMG)/truck operations as a retrofit on an existing empty storage area.
The system allows direct access to each container any time, eliminating 350,000 unproductive moves per year. This will improve the overall truck servicing time by 20%, further enhancing PNC service delivery to its customers.
Boxbay is fully automated with additional built-in safety features. DP World also intends to run the system with solar power generated by photovoltaic panels on the roof of the storage, complementing DP World’s drive to decarbonize operations.
“If we were to imagine the future of trade, this is where it begins. We have taken a technology that has proven its effectiveness in the metals industry in Germany and further transformed it to create Boxbay, an innovative container storage system to enhance global trade,” said Sultan Ahmed.
“Our pilot scheme in Jebel Ali has already shown the advantages of a fully automated, sustainably powered high-bay storage system,” he said, proud that DP World’s Busan hub pioneers high-bay storage its developed with SMS.
He said the technology reflects DP World’s continuous efforts to embrace technologies that improve the flow of trade and further enhances Dubai’s position as a global leader in the ports and logistics industry.
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Tiemen Meester, COO of ports and terminals at DP World, said the group has long invested in new and innovative technology that will improve and modernize its ports and terminals.
“The PNC terminal is an exemplary operation that is already technologically advanced and forward-focused. With the introduction of the Boxbay high-bay storage system, we will be able to better serve our customers while keeping our people safe and cutting carbon emissions,” Meester said.
SMS group originally created the storage system to handle heavy metal coils. Having proven the technology in the metals industry, it was refined for port logistics.
The pilot facility at Jebel Ali’s Terminal-4 was built by DP World and SMS in January 2021. By the end of June last year, 190,000 container movements had been carried out under realistic operating conditions to verify the market maturity of the system.
DP World has a 66% stake in PNC, which handled 5.3 million TEUs in 2021. PNC operates in Busan port, the 10th-largest gateway in the world.
