GANTRY CRANES
and set them in a designated traceable place on the raft. The code on each drum is read by a human operator, who types it in; the operator decides the X-Y coordinates of its destination and types that in as well; the crane moves automatically to that location and lowers the load.
“But – and this is important – it does not release the load until the operator presses the button to make that happen. Again, the reason is ownership of responsibility: the drums are stacked end on end, vertically, on top of each other and the stack absolutely must not topple. So the human operator has to satisfy himself that each tower of drums is stable even with the new addition on top. You are really not going to trust any algorithm, or any AI, to do that.”
SCX also supplied the drum-handling crane at
An automated ship- borne gantry crane from MacGregor
have driven far greater distances. From the data so far, given the relative mileages covered, statisticians have determined that fully autonomous vehicles are statistically safer than average human drivers in most routine conditions. Even so, there is an understandable hesitation in legalising them. Fully-automated cranes are a much easier
According to GH, automation is not an option but a necessity.
proposition than fully-automated cars, but the same issues of safety and trust arise. SCX supplies gantry cranes to nuclear facilities. They are semi-automatic but not fully automatic – and for good reason. “It is about ownership of responsibility,” says Johnson. URENCO Capenhurst in Cheshire is a plant that enriches natural uranium for civil use, and manages and stores depleted uranium tails. “We supplied them with cranes for moving and storing 3,000-litre drums of nuclear waste. The drums are taken to a so-called ‘raft’ storage area for cooling before they are eventually reprocessed. Long-term traceability of everything is vital here. The challenge is to pick the drums up
Dounreay in the Scottish Highlands, which stores intermediate level waste. “The crane management system knows where any drum is at any time,” says Johnson, “with data fed to a SCADA desk in the control room. It has laser positioning for accurate setting down. There are thousands of drums. These ones are set on their sides so stability is not such an issue but again the crane is semi-automatic not fully automatic, and again the overriding reason is safety. There is a human operator with a kill-switch and that will remain. The Nuclear Regulation authorities will insist on that. You really do not want some future AI system running amok with a load of nuclear fuel.” Even so, and away from the nuclear scenario, the tasks of a crane are simpler than that of a car-driver and, crucially, the environment is much more controlled. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to conclude that autonomous cranes, both semi and fully automatic, will lead to greater safety in lifting. Greater economy of course is a given: not only are the labour costs reduced, but
24 | September 2026 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
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