• Ports and terminals

Strainstall named as New Zealand's first type-approved integrated weighing system supplier

Strainstall has received approval for its fully automatic container weighing system, CWS™, to be used in New Zealand ports.

The system achieved automatic weighing instruments approval from the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). This means CWS™ is now the first type-approved system for container weighing in the country and will be now be included on official lists of approved systems.

Josh Jones, Strainstall business development manager, explains:

‘This approval comes on the back of EU-type approval and additional approval in Austria and reinforces the wider acceptance of CWS™ in the weight verification market. It means CWS™ is fast becoming the leading global solution for integrated type- approved weighing systems for container handling equipment.’

‘We are currently setting up the required partners for local installation and support and we expect to see orders in this region soon,’ Josh adds.

CWS™ has been adopted globally by leading ports and terminals and has shown it can help terminals enjoy increased efficiencies (up to 300 percent in some cases), and offer potential extra revenue streams. The success of these installations has worked to provide a record of accomplishment which supported the approval win in New Zealand.

Frank Rose, business development head at Strainstall, says:

‘The system both meets obligatory safety standards and increases efficiency, which represents an important development for smaller ports which have to operate under tight budgets. It also allows them to increase the number of containers they can process.'

Strainstall specifically developed CWS to be installed on to reach stackers, straddle carriers, and rubber-tired and rail-mounted gantry cranes to offer a swift and efficient verified gross mass (VGM) service during stacking operations. It seamlessly integrates load monitoring technology on to existing container handling equipment and meets the International Maritime Organisation’s latest SOLAS safety guidelines to deliver accurate weight verification data.

Additionally, CWS offers real time analysis of the data as part of the port’s regular lifting cycle. This provides immediate insights to ensure safe container weighing, stowage and transportation, with the additional option for container snag detection and centre of gravity data.

‘CWS replaces existing weighbridge solutions which are often slow and time consuming,’ adds Josh, ‘by leveraging a faster, automated method of VGM verification, ports can now weigh and validate every container’s VGM as part of their existing lifting/stacking cycles without compromising container throughput.’

This creates a chargeable opportunity whereby ports can charge a processing fee for VGM verification of all containers handled, as well as allowing them to charge an additional fee for any discrepancies between the actual weight of containers and the weight stated on their VGMs.