SUCCESS STORY:

PORT OF LEIXÕES

Automatic high-speed reading in Pre-Gate

APDL and AllRead will set up 5 additional accesses in the Port of Leixões, to obtain traceability of vehicles, containers and train plates, in locations that were not possible until then, in order to streamline and dematerialize processes.

About APDL

The Port Authority of Leixões, or APDL, is Portugal’s second most important port, responsible for more than 25% of the country’s international trade. The port is one of the most competitive logistics centers in the country, handling around 19 million Tonnes of goods per year. 

The Challenge: High-speed readings

APDL faces the challenge of identifying containers (BICs), RoRo tanks and trailers (ILUs) entering with speed in the port facilities. These containers pass through its Pre-Gate up to 60 km/hour, without stopping (free flow). The OCR arch currently installed does not provide satisfactory levels of accuracy, despite its numerous cameras and high maintenance costs. APDL decided to carry out a comparison between the quality of readings of the AllRead software and those of the existing supplier for: 

  • BIC Containers 
  • Cistern Containers  
  • RoRo trailers – ILU 

The Solution:

In collaboration with APDL, AllRead implemented the reading software in an agile manner to address the challenge. Given the proximity of the camera to the road, a fisheye lens camera with a high frame rate (Frame Per Second – FPS) was installed to increase the field of view and ensure the capture of the codes.   
 
The software was installed on its premises on a Linux virtual machine provided by the APBA IT department and to which the Camera IP was connected. With 8 Cores CPUs and 8GB RAM, the software processes the frames at sufficient speed to deliver the results in real time, and, above all, before the truck arrives at the Gate, to speed up the port entry procedures.

The Results:

97

Accuracy of Reading

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On-Premise

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Fish Eye

The implementation of the AllRead software provided superior results to the existing OCR arch, convincing APDL of the potential of the “AllRead Formula”. AllRead achieved:  

  • A high reading accuracy of 97%.   
  • To cut maintenance costs by drastically reducing the hardware required.    
  • The possibility of extending the implementation to other port accesses, cost-effectively and without a large capital investment (CAPEX).   

Following these results, APDL and AllRead expanded the implementation to 5 additional accesses in the Port of Leixões. 

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