APM Terminals' Pier 400 in Los Angeles is the largest privately-run container terminal in the Western Hemisphere. With safety and efficiency at the heart of this modernised operation, the team at Pier 400 adopted DHI’s NCOS ONLINE Yardsafe system to simultaneously increase yard productivity and improve safety ratings.

‘We already have a very high level of safety for our workers. But we continue to seek new ways to improve safety even further, and with NCOS ONLINE Yardsafe from DHI, we have not only been able to reduce the number of toppling incidents dramatically but also to improve efficiency with a 90% reduction in housekeeping moves related to wind events’, explains Rob Byers, Director of Project Management at APM Terminals.

How it works

The NCOS ONLINE system is an award-winning technology platform developed for ports and terminals to maximise utilisation of marine assets and improve safety and reliability of marine operations.

More specifically, the NCOS ONLINE Yardsafe system provides Pier 400 with 48-hour advance warning of container toppling risk in the yard, down to each individual box. Through an interactive, 3D display, operators can see exactly which containers are at risk of toppling based on container position, weight and wind conditions. They can also download a list of critical container moves required to return to a safe operating environment.

The power of early warnings
‘We include the information from Yardsafe in our morning daily stand-up meeting. When there is wind coming, it is our sole source of truth for both forecasting and actionable intelligence’, says Rob Byers. ‘We’ve had no shutdowns related to wind toppling since we implemented the system in 2023.

Yardsafe offers detailed insights into which container stacks are at risk of toppling over and when, reducing unnecessary conservatism in yard operations. In fact, the team at Pier 400 has seen that they will need to move approximately 10% of its empty container inventory due to a given wind event based on warnings from Yardsafe. Prior to implementation, though, they would have moved closer to 100% of their empties.

‘Because we are a highly modernised port, it becomes incredibly complex to shut down individual sections of the port. With the fast and smooth implementation of Yardsafe from DHI, we now have much more efficient operations and an even safer working environment for our people’, concludes Rob.

If you wish to hear more about DHI’s Yardsafe tool or see a demo, please contact Simon Mortensen, Vice President Ports and Terminals, DHI A/S at sbm@dhigroup.com.