DP World has announced the first commercial use of its revolutionary BOXBAY high-bay storage system at its terminal in Pusan, South Korea.

A contract was signed on March 8 between Pusan Newport Corporation (PNC) and Boxbay FZCO — a joint venture of DP World and German plant technology supplier SMS — initiating the design and engineering works for the site.

In a statement, DP World said the signing took place in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, and was signed by Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO of DP World and Burkhard Dahmen, chairman and CEO of SMS group, the partners behind BOXBAY.

It said that PNC already operates one of the highest performing container terminals in Asia.

DP World noted that the addition of BOXBAY's technology would allow PNC to boost its efficiency even further. 

It said the BOXBAY high-bay storage technology would be seamlessly integrated along with the existing mode of ARMG/truck operations as a retrofit on an existing empty storage area.  

The system allows direct access to each container at any time, eliminating 350,000 unproductive moves per year. This will improve the overall truck servicing time by 20%, further improving PNC service delivery to its customers.

BOXBAY is fully automated with additional safety features built in.

DP World said it also intends to power it by using solar power, generated by photovoltaic panels on the roof of the storage system, complementing DP World’s drive to decarbonise operations.

"We have long invested in new and innovative technology that will improve and modernise our ports and terminals. It's a tremendous step forward to announce our first commercial use of BOXBAY. The PNC terminal is an exemplary operation that is already technologically advanced and forward-focused," said Tiemen Meester, COO of Ports & Terminals, DP World.

Meester noted that with the introduction of the BOXBAY high-bay storage system, DP World would be able to better serve its customers while keeping our people safe and cutting carbon emissions from the environment.

Glen Hilton, CEO & managing director of DP World Asia Pacific & Australasia, also welcomed the implementation of BOXBAY.

"We are delighted to see this technology implemented first at one of our terminals. Safety, sustainability and efficiency are huge drivers for our business. We look forward to working with the PNC and BOXBAY teams to implement this system without any interruption to our current services," Hilton said.

DP World developed BOXBAY in a joint venture with German plant technology supplier SMS group, who originally created the storage system to handle heavy metal coils.

Having proven the technology in the metals industry, it was refined for port logistics.

DP World said together with SMS, it built a pilot facility at Jebel Ali's Terminal-4 in January 2021.

By the end of June 2022, 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 Pusan port, which is the tenth largest in the world.