Nokia and Kalmar, which is part of Cargotec, announced that they will expand their ongoing collaboration to provide new solutions for ports and intermodal terminal operators seeking to automate operations.
Cargotec is a Finnish company that makes cargo-handling machinery for ships, ports, terminals and local distribution.
Under the extended partnership, Nokia and Kalmar will combine their communications and cargo handling technology expertise in “new joint ventures”, integrated solutions development and research collaboration.
“This venture builds on our existing business relationship with Kalmar. Nokia is now bringing a range of digitalization offerings to the alliance, with particular emphasis on private wireless, to add to Kalmar’s cargo handling technology know-how,” said Jochen Apel, vice president of transportation, logistics and manufacturing for Nokia Cloud and Network Services. “This joint approach promises significant gains in efficiency and productivity for ports and intermodal terminal operators.”
“Port and terminal operators worldwide are eager to leverage the productivity gains on offer with cargo handling automation – and secure, reliable, high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity is an essential part of that equation. By integrating our pioneering Kalmar solutions with latest Nokia digitalization innovation, we can deliver a new generation of offerings that transform port terminal operations,” said Antti Kaunonen, president of Kalmar Automation Solutions.
Nokia and Kalmar will incorporate Nokia 4G and 5G private wireless into offerings developed for use with straddle carriers, automated stacking carriers and rubber-tired gantry cranes. Nokia said that this will enable ports and terminal operators to increase container handling efficiency and enhance on-site safety levels.
Other near-term technical collaboration will focus on 5G research projects in Finland as well as on ultra-reliable positioning for safe acceleration of automated cargo handling equipment.
Nokia will also provide the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) solution, which is an industrial-grade digitalization platform that provides a private wireless network with industrial connectors and edge computing capabilities on a cloud-based monitoring system.
In 2019, Kalmar and Ukkoverkot (now Edzcom), a private LTE network provider, had announced an agreement with Nokia to build a wireless digitalization infrastructure for port and terminal research and development.
Last week, Nokia announced an agreement with Tideworks Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carrix, to deploy Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) at the Port of Seattle, Terminal 5.
The Finnish vendor said that deployment of Nokia’s digital automation service platform with LTE/5G private wireless networking will deliver increases in efficiency, worker safety and terminal handling performance by reducing the complexity of port flow.
Nokia said that the private wireless network is capable of delivering seamless connectivity indoors and out across Terminal 5 operations, cranes, trucks and lifts and will also enhance communication between logistics parties. The Nokia DAC also incorporates ruggedized tablets and smartphones for terminal-wide, mobile voice communications and yard inventory applications, the vendor added.
Nokia said that a total of 30 of its more than 220 large enterprise customers across industries worldwide have already incorporated 5G.
