BPA Begins Establishment of Integrated Management Platform for Port Crane Equipment Maintenance

6 Billion KRW Investment Including Government Support, On-Site Demonstration Test at Busan Port New Terminal

Utilizing Digital Twin Technology... Expected Optimized Maintenance for Equipment and Components

Busan Port Authority (BPA) has launched a technology development project for the 'Integrated Management Platform for Port Crane Equipment Maintenance.'

New Port Pier 3 Transfer Crane (Yard Crane).

Port cranes are essential equipment for cargo handling and movement, categorized into quay cranes that load and unload containers on ships and transfer cranes that move containers within the yard.

There are a total of 139 quay cranes installed at Busan Port (47 at Bukhang, 92 at Sinhang) and 458 transfer cranes (124 at Bukhang, 334 at Sinhang).

Since failures caused by damage to parts and devices of port cranes can lead to massive losses due to suspension of cargo handling operations, thorough maintenance is necessary.

Currently, engineers visit each terminal on a maintenance schedule to conduct inspections, but management of various items is done manually, and the management systems are fragmented, resulting in low efficiency in equipment maintenance tasks.

BPA aims to solve these problems through digitalization and integrated management of port crane equipment status by developing an integrated maintenance management platform.

BPA formed a consortium with IPLMS, a platform construction specialist company, and was selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ purchase-conditional new product development project.

Over two years, a total of 600 million KRW will be invested, including 260 million KRW in government funding, with on-site testing conducted at Pier 3 of the New Port (operated by Hanjin Busan Container Terminal, HJNC).

Through this project, BPA plans to build an integrated database (DB) and a digital integrated platform for equipment maintenance that covers the entire maintenance cycle, including standard information on port crane equipment maintenance, inspection and maintenance plans and results management, spare parts management, and delivery management.

Using digital twin technology, functions such as digital drawings of equipment, 3D equipment parts information, and VR remote maintenance will also be developed.

BPA expects that once this platform is established and introduced, it will minimize downtime caused by equipment failures and maintenance, reduce costs through optimized maintenance strategies for equipment and parts, and enable disaster prevention and rapid cause identification.

Kang Jun-seok, President of BPA, said, “We expect that the construction of this integrated management platform will greatly contribute to accelerating the smartification of Busan Port,” adding, “Our authority will continue to expand technological investment and cooperation with SMEs to further strengthen a win-win port ecosystem.”