ABB has introduced its Waterside Automation solution, designed to automate quay crane operations at container terminals and support a gradual transition toward fully autonomous ship-to-shore crane handling. The platform combines vision and movement-based sensor technologies with AI and data analytics to control container positioning, crane movements, and vessel conditions in real time, automatically executing lifting and positioning tasks while adapting to vessel movement and weather variability.

A defining capability of the system is operator decoupling, rather than directly controlling individual cranes, operators can supervise multiple cranes simultaneously from an office environment, enabling quay crane pooling and improving workforce flexibility. The solution also integrates optical character recognition, stowage confirmation, digital work instructions, and exception handling into a single coordinated platform.

The launch addresses a persistent gap in terminal automation, while yard operations at most major container terminals have been largely automated, quay cranes have continued to depend heavily on manual control. With global container traffic intensifying pressure on schedule reliability and turnaround efficiency, ABB’s Waterside Automation positions itself as a critical bridge between current operations and the next generation of fully autonomous port infrastructure.